부산대학교 도서관

Washington, D.C., has looked to school choice as one way to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged students. School choice attempts to "level the playing field" between students of different backgrounds by making it possible for all families to have access to a city's high-quality public schools--whether students live near these schools or not. But the process of school choice requires substantial investments of time and resources, something not all families are able to do. As a result, the option of school choice, on its own, does not resolve gaps in access to high-quality schools. DC School Reform Now (DCSRN) launched the High Quality Schools Campaign (HQSC) as an effort to address the challenge of ensuring that school choice works for all families in Washington, D.C. This initiative connects families in the city's most underserved regions--where fewer high-quality schools are available--with "parent advocates" who guide families through the process of choosing a school, from learning about schools (with an emphasis on schools receiving high performance ratings) to completing the application to enrolling their child in school for the fall. The goal of the HQSC is to dramatically increase the number of families who actively take advantage of school choice and enroll in the city's top-rated schools (both district and charter). This brief is the first in a multiyear series that examines the HQSC and offers lessons for other districts and organizations interested in offering better support for families navigating the process of choosing a school. The aims of this evaluation are: (1) inform DCSRN's ongoing work to expand the HQSC to serve more families and expand their impact; and (2) document best practices that can be used by other school districts and community-based organizations to improve families' access to high-quality schools.