Posted on 08/23/2022 9:28:39 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Approximately 2 million students have left public schools since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns led to mandated school closures and students being educated online, according to a recently released report.
Education Next, a nonpartisan research organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, announced the findings of a report last week that looked into current trends in education.
According to the report, around 2 million fewer students are enrolled in non-charter public schools since spring 2020, when the United States enacted pandemic lockdowns.
Specifically, researchers found that, from 2020-2022, enrollment in public schools declined from 81% to 76.5%, charter school enrollment increased from 5% to 7.2%, private school enrollment increased from 8% to 9.7%, and homeschooling rose from 6% to 6.6%.
“Our polling data indicate that district-operated schools lost 4% of student enrollments to other types of schooling between 2020 and 2022,” said the researchers.
“If that percentage is accurate, it means that nearly 2 million students have shifted from traditional public schools to alternative school arrangements.”
Although appearing to be a significant drop in enrollment, the report did not consider the decline to be severe. Additionally, the researchers found that, in November 2020, public school enrollment had dropped down to 72%, or 4.5 percentage points lower than it is at present.
“A wholesale mass exodus from traditional public schools has not occurred,” they stated. “And despite partisan differences in responses to [COVID-19], the parents of children in states both blue and red report less anxiety about their children’s academic and social progress than was the case two years earlier.”
Data for the report was based on a poll conducted May 2-30 by Ipsos Public Affairs with a total sample of 3,641 respondents, which included 1,857 respondents who had “at least one child living in the respondent’s household who is in a grade from kindergarten through 12th.”
Recently, debates surrounding lockdown measures and controversial curriculum content have led many parents to take their children out of public schools and choose alternatives like homeschooling or private education.
In September of last year, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools released a report showing that around 1.4 million children had been taken out of public schools, based on an analysis of the school districts of 41 states and the District of Columbia.
Additionally, the NAPCS reported that approximately 240,000 students were newly enrolled in public charter schools, representing a 7% increase compared to 2020.
“It is premature to draw any conclusions about why charter school enrollment grew while enrollment in district public schools declined. And yet the pattern among states in this report is undeniable,” noted the NAPCS report.
“There is much to learn from families who made the switch, and perhaps the biggest lesson for everyone is how critically important charter schools are to public education.”
Earlier this year, the National Catholic Educational Association reported a slight increase in Catholic school enrollment for the 2021-2022 academic year compared to the 2020-2021 academic year.
“Enrollment at all types of schools — public, charter and private — were impacted last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Catholic schools had a decline in enrollment of 6.4% from 2019-2020 to 2020-2021,” stated the NCEA.
“Catholic schools’ dedication in safely opening classrooms and supporting their communities’ needs last year is demonstrated in the 3.8% increase in enrollment.”
I think this has as much, if not more to do with pedo-grooming as COVID19
I would have expected about twice that amount.
Maybe there are special ways of counting who is or is not
‘present and enrolled’.
In an unrelated story, democrat party registrations among 18 year olds has dropped to record lows
We need more to destroy the public school system, and to rebuild the republic.
They graduated...............😜
I would take the entire budget of the Dept of Ed and spend it on DIY home-schooling curriculum that would be in the public domain and which could provide decent educational materials for decades to come at no further cost. I would also offer good tax incentives for one member of a couple to stay home and provide support for home-schooling as long as there are kids in the house under 18. Single income family, with quality education. Might get the country back on track.
Not everyone would thrive with home-schooling, but I bet 80% would. And I’m not sure anyone is thriving with government schools.
My two teens left public school in 2020. One I moved to a private school, one I homeschooled. So my family is part of this number.
The pandemic “remote learning” and masking crap was just the final straw.
Pulled ours out almost 20 years ago when they were in the 2nd and 3rd grades because we met their teachers and both seemed like nasty feminists. That and we were planning on moving to another state that year. Figured we’d put them back in school here in Missouri but just kept on homeschooling. We’re rural and the kids would have had a one hour bus trip to the next county and the schools there aren’t great.
They are both very successful.
2 million is not nearly enough. Sending children to today’s government schools gross child abuse...but Americans love them some welfare education. In fact, it’s their favorite welfare program, and education welfare is more important to them than their children.
Use the correct name. They aren’t public schools, they are “government schools”.
One of America’s biggest sins, not reforming schools and allowing kids to effectively be tortured at these union schools.
I think both from what I am seeing. The shots and the woke education system.
I’m waiting for my property taxes to go down. I bet if public school enrollment dropped by 50%, my taxes would still increase.
The public school has needed re-missioning, de-centralizing and re-design for 60 yrs.
That’s OK. We’ve gotten many more than that from south of the border to make up for it.
Hillsdale College is launching Charter schools.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.