The article, published in the journal Education Next, draws on state and national data to measure changes in student enrollment over the last half-decade. Both in Massachusetts and around the country, white and Asian parents were far likelier to pull their children out of public schools than Hispanics and African Americans. Kindergarten and middle school enrollment plunged, while elementary schools actually saw a small bump in total students...
In a different paper examining student flows in the initial years of the pandemic, University of Michigan economist Brian Jacob found that white families removed their children from public schools at much higher rates in districts that were slow to reopen for in-person instruction. Jacob said in an interview that he was "not surprised" to see that parents who had found private alternatives hadn't yet switched back.
"There was evidence that more affluent families were shifting kids away from public schools during COVID because they wanted more in-person instruction," ..."It may be that schools are going to have to work a lot harder to win back some of the families they lost."
- Brian Jacob
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