Background

The majority of this site is designed to offer your district resources to improve your public school choice programs. This particular section of the site is designed to help you understand the what and why of choice and provide information about how to use the site.

What is Public School Choice?
Public school choice is just that, giving families options within a public school system: letting parents - with their child, if appropriate - decide which public school will best serve that child and then making it possible for the student to attend that school.

Why is Choice Important?
For parents, the appeal of choice is obvious: They get to pick a school that's a good match for their child rather than having to send their student to a particular school just because it's closest to where they live. But what does choice offer to you as a district?

How Can I Make Choice Happen?
Developing public school choice can seem daunting. But the good news is you don't need to invent the wheel. Choice is already thriving in hundreds of diverse districts across the country, and much can be learned from their experiences.

Innovation Guides from Office of Innovation and Improvement
In its initial stage, the toolkit has drawn primarily from programs studied in 2004 by a research team from WestEd and its partner Edvance for a series of Innovation Guides about promising practices in American public education. Four of the guides highlight innovative programs for increasing parents' public school options.

About this Site
This page answers the important questions of: Who is the site for? Why was it created? Who created it? How is it organized?