Report: Education Choice, Services Used

U.S. school children are taking advantage of school choice and supplemental educational services through No Child Left Behind, a report released Thursday said.

However, only a small portion of eligible students have taken advantage of the programs during the 2003-04 and 2004-05 school years, the U.S. Department of Education said in a news release. In the 2004-05 school year, 1 percent of the nearly 6.2 million eligible students participated in the school choice option, while 17 percent of the 1.8 million eligible students took advantage of in the supplemental educational services option.

The report indicated poor participation could be attributed to problems communicating with parents and the programs’ unavailability, particularly at the middle and high school levels.

Other findings include:

— Students participating in the Title I school choice option in nine urban school districts had prior achievement similar to that of all eligible students.

— Most districts required to offer school choice and supplemental services reported that they were more likely to provide the options at the elementary level.

— Parents choosing to enroll their children in school choice or supplemental services indicated more often they did so to provide educational opportunities for their children.