Half the nation’s largest 100 school districts allowed some kind of school choice in 2014, a report from the Brookings Institution says.
But policymakers need to improve access to quality schools, the report says. Specifically, parents need better tools to make good choices, it says, and they need good schools to choose from.
Using data from the 2013-14 school year, the Brookings index ranks districts based on how many school choice options and supports families can access. New Orleans’ state-run Recovery School District got top marks, with New York City coming in second. The Newark, N.J., district was the upstart on the list, climbing 15 spots to the No. 3 position. Its 21-point rise was due in large part to its new districtwide single-enrollment system for charter and district schools.
The three lowest-ranked school districts were the Alpine district in Northern County, Utah; the Loudoun County schools in Virginia; and the Brownsville Independent School District in Texas.
