Public K-12 education is a one-size-fits-all system that cannot meet the diverse needs of students. When parents choose a school, they look at several criteria unique to their situation and make trade-offs between their preferences based on their needs. The purpose of this study was to explore the factors influencing parents to enroll their…

This study was conducted in a middle-class area where school districts are largely average. The purpose of this study was to better understand how families choose among the options available to their child for entering kindergarten. These options include the neighborhood public school, open enrollment into another public school, homeschooling, or…

In this article we present results from research on how education environments may influence the propensity of education participants to engage in corrupt practices. We approached this task with the help of a conceptual framework that draws on rational choice and routine activity theory, and on economic models of human behaviour. The framework…

This longitudinal study of eight London families used rational choice theory to explore the extent to which parents behaved rationally while seeking a secondary school for their children, according to rights given them by England's Education Reform Act (1988). Families were recruited at two London primary schools serving predominantly low…

Rational choice theory suggests that parents are utility maximizers who make decisions from clear value preferences, that they are able to demand effective action from local schools and teachers, and that they can be relied upon to pursue the best interests of their children. This paper presents a different perspective and argues that parents…

By the year 2000, the management of education in England had lost much of its capacity to ensure the commitment of headteachers and teachers. As market forces engendered competition among schools, the bureaucratic monitoring of schools by agencies of government increased on the grounds that objective and comparable data about schools should be…

Despite homeschooling experiencing steady growth in recent decades, research is lacking to explain or theorize the complex interconnected network of factors and experiences behind parents choosing homeschooling in lieu of public or private school. According to the last twenty years of government surveys, the top reasons for homeschooling remain…

The assumption that rational choice dynamics will lead to diversity of school supply is at the heart of K-12 school choice arrangements. Yet as the field of school choice becomes more established, there will be the "inexorable push toward homogenization." If vouchers, tuition tax credit scholarships, and education savings accounts become…

Kenyan government launched Free Primary Education (FPE) in 2003 to make schooling affordable to all parents, but less attention has been paid to the quality assurance and equity of the education system. Studies have indicated that the FPE policy sacrificed the quality of education and this led to parents avoiding FPE offered in primary schools and…

The question of how information is used by parents in selecting schools is a central issue in school choice debates, where advocates and opponents frequently intermingle theory (often economic), ideological beliefs, and empirical evidence in constructing arguments about the potential of this reform. We employ a nomination strategy to analyze…

Examines the educational choices that young people and parents from different class backgrounds make at transition points within the system that the Rational Action Theory offers. Observes that the choices parents and their children make augment and amplify social-class differentiation. Explores two explanations for this phenomenon: "rational…

Government expansion of child care services is based on the assumption that both parents are employed (the adult worker model) and make cost-benefit calculations in choosing child care (the rational economic choice model). This paper addresses this assumption, based on research examining mothers' assessments of appropriate child care. These…