New York City and Boston offer a wide array of public school options to students, and both cities’ student-assignment systems ensure that nearly every student is placed in a school of their choice, according to a new report from the Education Sector, a Washington-based think tank.
The analysis, released Sept. 8, also concludes that the school choice programs in both cities could serve as a prototype for other urban districts that are striving to provide more public schooling options to families.
In the 1.1 million-student New York City system, every 8th grader—and there are roughly 81,000 of them—must select a high school, a requirement that has created “choice on a scale unprecedented in public education,” the report says.
Boston’s matching system uses a lottery system in each of the city’s three K-8 zones, which consist of about 30 schools each.
The report is part of the Washington-based groups “Ideas at Work” series, which examines innovations in education. It was written by Thomas Toch and Chad Aldeman.
