Does school choice matter? Research says…NO.

Parents are  hungry for ways to give their children “edge” in the world of education, and with high hopes, the workforce.  As an educational consultant I advise parents about schools in Los Angeles, helping them to find the best match between their needs and the profile of their child.  Eager to leave no stone unturned in the search for the “perfect school,”  parents spend money on consultants, admission test preparation , tutoring, and eventually, most likely, private school tuition.  New research shared in Johns Hopkins University Department of Education’s Center for Research and Reform in Education newsletter, Best Evidence in Brief, indicates that more important than school profile in assuring student achievement is what the authors call “family capital.”

Best Evidence in Brief describes the research presented in Research in Social Stratification and Mobility describing the quality of interactions and values in the home which seem to be better indicators of high levels of student success than attributes of the school the child attends.  The skills that contribute to student academic achievement come from the home, say the researchers in the study, not the school.

What does this research mean for parents?  Does that mean that the kind of school your child attends does not matter? The good news, says the study, is that any family in any school can give a child a good foundation for academic achievement if the values and behaviors are supportive and nurturing.

However,  from my perspective, schools still matter.  Ideally, the relationship between a school and the families who comprise the school community is a mutually supportiv relationship.  Hopefully, the school is a repository of resources, both tangible and intangible, that assist parents in being and doing the best they can for their child.  Hopefully, there is quality communication between home and school, providing parents with the kinds of information that allow them to be actively involved in the rights kinds of ways, with their child’s education.  Good schools provide opportunites for parent education and for parents to interact with one another, develping supportive relationships with other parents that increase their skills as parents.

The study mentions that parents who talk to their children effectively, take an interest in their children’s schoolwork, and who create effective means of communication in the home lay the foundation for their children’s learning.  It’s highly possible for parents to develop effective family cultures on their own or with the help of friends, family, or other sources;  but a good school can be a huge support in helping parents develop effective family environments.

Ironically, many parents look to find a school with a good reputation of high levels of academic achievement or status, assuming that somehow the attributes of the school will inculcate their child against school failure or ensure copious amounts of school success.  What the study tells us is that unless the school’s academic success is as a result of its support of families, helping them to develop high quality environments for raising children, the reputation of a school is no insurance for student achievement.

Student achievement, like everything else in life, it seems, is an “inside job,”  in this case, predicted by qualities of life inside a family.