Why and how do parents decide to send their children to the interdistrict school choice program at the magnet program for math and science
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Doyle, Kevin S..
Why and how do parents decide to send their children to the interdistrict school choice program at the magnet program for math and science. Retrieved from
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TitleWhy and how do parents decide to send their children to the interdistrict school choice program at the magnet program for math and science
Date Created2017
Other Date2017-05 (degree)
Extent1 online resource (vi, 138 p. : ill.)
DescriptionThe New Jersey Interdistrict School Choice Program allows parents to send their students to schools outside of their local school district. Determining why parents send their students to choice schools is important to school leaders who are trying to attract new students, as well as those who are trying to retain their current students. This study examined the reasons why parents decided to send their students to the Magnet Program for Math and Science (MP4M&S), a school choice program in a suburban school district in northwest New Jersey, during the 2015-2016 school year. A large volume of research has focused on school choice programs in urban and poor communities. This study addressed the gap in the research by focusing on an affluent suburban school district. This mixed methods study focused on three areas, why parents choose to send their students to the MP4M&S, what criteria they used to make their decision, and where they got their information. Research shows that these three areas of focus can be influenced by parental level of education, socioeconomic status, geographic location, academic rigor, school quality, and school environment. Parents from different groups, based upon their out-of-district status, were interviewed. The information from the interviews was used to focus a survey that was given to the families of all 137 students in the MP4M&S during the 2015-2016 school year. The results of this study show that parents found the academic focus, academic rigor, the school environment, the original research project, the activity offerings, and the economics involved in attending the program to be important attractors. The study also found that the Information Nights, the school website, and interactions with members of the MP4M&S community to be important sources of information. Finally, the study found that there were few differences between in and out-of-district parents when assigning importance to both the attractors and the sources in the study. The results of this study will be shared with the leadership team of the MP4M&S and the Morris Hills Regional District so that they can develop strategies and resources that attract parents to the program.
NoteEd.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Noteby Kevin S. Doyle
Genretheses, ETD doctoral
Languageeng
CollectionGraduate School of Education Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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