Stemming the exodus: An exploration of parental selection of their children’s urban schools

Paper presented during a roundtable session at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting.

During the past decade, urban school districts across the US have encountered shrinking enrollment. To help ameliorate this problem, the researchers sought to understand the factors parents, who enrolled children in an urban school district grappling with shrinking enrollment, considered important when selecting schools for their children. During the 2016-2017 school year, 1023 parents from an urban school district located in Northern California completed an anonymous, online survey. The four most important factors they considered salient when selecting schools were: (1) school safety and safe areas surrounding their children’s schools (2) special needs programs, (3) educators, and (4) academics. This study provides direction for US urban school districts that are facing diminishing enrollment due to students exiting their schools.