The Wall Street Journal dubbed 2011 “The Year of School Choice” after more than a dozen states enacted school-choice legislation that spring. The seeds planted three years ago are now sprouting all over the country in the form of a record student enrollment in publicly funded private-school choice programs. This growth is captured brilliantly in a new publication from the Alliance for School Choice—School Choice Yearbook 2013–14: Hope. Action. Results.
Through its compilation of data and use of graphs, the yearbook shows that the number of students participating in private-school choice programs during the 2013–14 school year is an increase of sixty thousand students—25 percent—from the prior year. This is the single biggest one-year increase in the history of private-school choice programs and brings the total number of participants to more than 308,000 students in eighteen states and the District of Columbia.
While the record number of participating students is the headline grabber in the yearbook, it’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the content. The yearbook, in its interactive digital version, expertly intermixes compelling personal stories with research, a history of the choice movement, detailed information on every private-school choice program, and charts and graphs comparing programs across states.
The colorful and attractive presentation of the yearbook may lead you to believe that it is data lite, but that would be a mistake. While it provides the information in a format simple enough for novices, it also serves as a great resource for the choice expert or seasoned reporter.
As school-choice programs continue to flourish, high-quality publications like the ASC School Choice Yearbook are critical to keep up with the growth. If you haven’t already, make sure you take a look at the yearbook today.
