Child Trends provides technical assistance and research expertise to the National School Choice Awareness Association in support of their efforts to spread awareness on school choice and highlight trends among Hispanic students and families. School choice refers to policies that allow parents and students to select an educational option outside their assigned neighborhood public school, including public charter schools, magnet schools, private schools, or homeschooling.
Our work on this project started through a short-term opportunity to present at the National School Choice Awareness Summit in September 2025 and is funded by the National School Choice Awareness Association.
Background
Because school choice is a growing movement across the United States, this project is envisioned to serve two main purposes. The first is to highlight students’ and families’ school choice options within five key states: Arizona, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, and Indiana. The second purpose is to highlight these trends more specifically among Hispanic students and families.
The project uses state-level data from the five focal states to illustrate trends on different school enrollment choices; data include overall enrollment in the state, charter school enrollment, home school enrollment, private school enrollment, and use of school choice scholarships and accounts. These trends are also presented specifically for Hispanic students and families.
Intended Impacts
- Raise awareness on school choice trends, especially among Hispanic students and families.
- Highlight the need for more data to better understand school choice in general and for Hispanic students, who account for one quarter of the population of U.S. children under age 18.
- Uplift the experiences of Hispanic students and families when it comes to school choice.
Shared Learnings
In this section, we will share our presentation from the summit that includes key findings and recommendations.
Team
- Lorena Aceves, principal investigator and project director, Child Trends
- Krissia Spivey, senior director, Navigation Programs and Partnerships, National School Choice Awareness Foundation