School Disrupted Part 3: What Parents Know (Don’t Know) Impacts Schooling Decisions

This is Part 3 of a three-part publication on K-12 enrollment trends by Tyton Partners supported by Stand Together Trust and the Walton Family Foundation. Our work draws on two nationally representative surveys of more than 6,000 K-12 parents conducted in May 2022.

Part 1 of School Disrupted 2022 estimated that district public school enrollment has dropped nearly 10% since Fall 2020, while enrollment in charter and private schools and homeschooling has increased.

Part 2 reported on the emergence of multi-site schooling models, a more flexible school model that marries parents’ preferences for traditional and alternative learning environments.                                                                                      

In Part 3, we review how awareness of and interest in alternative school (i.e., those that are not district public schools and are perceived to be more alternative) are related, what concerns parents about these models, and how the K-12 landscape might adapt to parents’ changing preferences.

The intent of our research is to use the parent perspective as a point of triangulation for measuring impact of the pandemic on the distribution of school enrollment. If you have any questions or additional thoughts, we would value the opportunity to continue the conversation.