Family Resources

Parents and Teachers Both Want More Learning Pods

We knew parents liked learning pods. It turns out teachers might be even more excited. When schools shut their doors in response to COVID-19, some parents worried their kids were not learning well through online instruction. Others feared a lack of social or emotional development. Among parents who transitioned to working from home, some felt […]

Will Hybrid Homeschooling Continue After the Pandemic Ends?

My new book, Hybrid Homeschooling: A Guide to the Future of Education, releases March 14. I wrote the vast majority of it before the pandemic, when hybrid homeschooling was confined to a small but dedicated group of educators and families in private, charter and traditional public school districts across the country. The coronavirus completely changed […]

The 2021 EdChoice Yearbook Superlatives

The EdChoice team has never experienced a year quite like 2020. Though we’re all eager to move forward, we couldn’t put it in the rearview mirror for good before bringing you our annual yearbook superlatives What better time than National School Choice Week to highlight some of the big school choice challenges and wins from […]

Beyond The Bus: Focus Grouping The Future of K-12 Transportation

When people think about kids getting to and from school, the image that likely comes to mind first is the traditional and iconic big yellow school bus. That image may evolve, however, as the pandemic and growing educational options for families change the logistics of the school experience. Will parents continue sending their kids to […]

Survey: But What About The Kids?

The debate over schools reopening during the pandemic has included a great deal of feedback from educators and parents. We’re not hearing as much from the students themselves. How are they feeling? Are they worried about catching the virus—and what do they think about safety protocol? Do they prefer remote learning or coming back to […]

Cool Schools: Season Three Roundup

It’s that time again. We’re recapping each episode in the latest season of our Cool Schools podcast. In this series, EdChoice Director of National Research Mike McShane spotlights some—you guessed it—cool schools across the country. He gets in the weeds, asking school leaders all the burning questions we education geeks care about. For those of […]

Unbundling: How K–12 Education Could Do Transportation Differently

As school districts across the country deal with uncertainty about how schools will reopen in the Fall as the COVID-19 lockdown is lifted, many organizations (such as AFT and AEI) have proposed guidelines for education leaders to consider as they pen their plans for reopening. Some of these guidelines include calls for physical distancing, screening […]

Unbundling: Three Ways Public Schools Can Rethink Food Services

School districts spend about $24 billion on food services each year. According to the USDA, approximately 29.8 million students receive school lunch every day through the National School Lunch Program. That’s about 60 percent of public K-12 students in the country. Nationwide, the cost of providing food services on a per-pupil basis, after adjusting for […]

Unbundling: Three Policies That Would Improve Schools’ Core Education Services

Up to this point, we’ve talked about unbundling what we might call “ancillary” school services like transportation, food, professional development, and remedial education. Now, it is fair to note that thinking of these as ancillary is probably insufficient because if kids can’t get to school, they can’t do anything else. Seems pretty essential. But that […]