More Families Are Choosing Charter Schools. Are They More Effective?

Charter schools have seen an uptick in students recently, but available research has shown it's difficult to measure their effectiveness.

The U.S. has a few different schooling options for grade school kids — one being charter schools. Those saw a 7% enrollment increase during the 2020-21 school year, which is the largest increase in half a decade. Of that increase, 70% were students switching to virtual charter schools. Numbers for the most recent school year have yet to be released.

A recent analysis sheds light on a couple reasons behind that trend. For one, many parents were looking for other education options for their children outside of traditional public schools during the pandemic. But it also comes at a time when the U.S. is very politically divided. A survey conducted by The Harris Poll in May found that 83% of parents agree that education has become a more important political issue to them in recent years, and 82% say they are willing to vote outside of their political party on the issue of education.

If parents don't like what they're seeing in their current school district, they might choose to send their child to a local charter school instead of the traditional public school they're assigned to based on their address.