Jeffco Public Schools

School Enrollment and Choice Study

Prepared by Instructional Data Services

BOE Questions Addressed

1. What is the current demand for school choice from Jeffco parents? (survey)

a) Based on the information we have today, do we think Jeffco’s “marketplace” could support new schools? If so, what and where should they be? (survey)

b) Does charging for transportation, etc., to choice programs inhibit choice? (survey OE & focus groups)

2. What is the ease of ‘choicing’ and open enrolling for Jeffco Families? (survey OE & focus group)

a) Is it easy enough to apply to choice options? (focus groups)

b) Do families have sufficient information about schools and the choice? (survey)

Parent Survey: • Collaborated with subcommittee of the BOE School

Choice and Enrollment Committee and district leadership to design the survey

• Administered September 17th to October 20th • Met with subcommittee to review preliminary results

November 6th

Focus Groups: • Conducted 4 Focus Groups with Parents identified as

low income • Preliminary results today to begin dialogue

Research Method

Response Rates:

• 7,683 people responded to the survey. Estimate is that this is 11% of all parents (71,633).

• Within schools the response rate varied from 0% to 28%. Median response rate was 7%.

• 66% of respondents used their Jeffco Connect login.

• Jeffco IT Security reviewed system logs and found no evidence of duplicate submissions.

Respondents

Demographics • 82% of respondents were female (72% complete) • 1.2% (86) surveys were completed in Spanish • Overall the ethnicity demographics are reflective of the

district with the exception of Hispanic/Latino – 3% of respondents identified as Hispanic/Latino

(compared to an estimated 23% in the district)

Ethnicity Survey Respondents

(22% missing) District

White 65% 68% Black or African American 0.4% 1.1%

American Indian or Alaska Native 0.3% 0.6% Asian 0.3% 3% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 0.1% 0.2%

Multi-ethnic 8.5% 4%

Respondents

Household Characteristics

• Most parents (95.5%) indicated they had one, two or three children. Only 1.4% (99) respondents indicated they had no children.

• 72% of parents live in households with between 2- 6 family members. Most (35.4%) had 4 family members (73% complete).

• Still working on geo-coding data with the district GIS expert (addresses and zip)

Respondents

• Overall in Jeffco, 28% of parents meet the criteria for their children to be eligible for FRL (33.8% FRL students in 13-14). 14% of parents who responded meet the criteria for their children to be eligible for FRL.

5% 3%

3% 4%

3%

5%

7%

70%

59% complete

$0-$28,694

$28,695-$36,131

$36,132-$43,568

$43,569-$51,005

$51,006-$58,442

$58,443-$65,879

$65,880-$73,316

$73,317 and above

Respondents

Income Ranges

Grade Level Combinations (% of all survey respondents)

*Duplicate counts

796

4414

1915 2098

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

5000

PreK/<5 KG/Elem MS HS

62%

11%

27% 30%

Respondents

Respondents

Margin of Error (95% CI)

• Overall data for all items, within +/-1% margin of error

• School level data (EMH) for all items, within +/-2% margin of error

• Low Income for all items, within +/-3% margin of error

• Minority status or white for all items, within +/-3% margin of error (much higher within ethnicities)

Enrollment Process

Information

• 68% of respondents indicated that they were familiar or very familiar with Jeffco Schools open enrollment process.

• 84.7% of parents indicated that they had enough or more than enough information to make school enrollment decisions for their child.

What top three source(s) of information did you use to learn about the various K-12 schools available for your child(ren)?

57%

40%

37%

33%

21%

12%

9%

8%

6%

4%

2%

2%

1%

1%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Family and Friends

Jeffco schools’ websites

Academic achievement information

In-person visit(s) to the school

Parent/student interest nights hosted by the school

Information provided by my school or preschool

I have not looked for this information

Other non-Jeffco Internet/Websites

Student visit day

Letters/brochures/Information sent from the school

Visits by principal or staff members from another school to my school

Realtors

Church, synagogue, mosque or other religious community

Newspapers

Enrollment Process

Decision Points Percent of parents who consider more than one school:

• Elementary – 62% • Middle – 49% • High – 53%

Percent of parents who apply to more than one school • Elementary – 26% • Middle – 16% • High – 16%

Percent of parents who get into more than one school • Elementary – 17% • Middle – 12% • High – 15%

Enrollment Process

Enrollment Process

Reasons for Selecting

School

“XYZ high school is a great school with a strong

reputation. I went to the showcase night and was

very impressed with all of the teachers and

administrators so decided not to look anywhere else.

It was a great choice!” “We selected our

neighborhood high school because we

feel that the sense of community that it

fosters is important for our child.”

“In the end, we decided that being able to walk to

school and being engaged in our physical community

were more important than test scores or any other

selection criteria. We are very happy with our

neighborhood school and have become involved

there.” “Excellent teachers and administrators

who are friendly, well-organized, make

learning fun, maintain firm discipline

policies.”

“My son loves his high school. He has amazing

teachers and staff members that care about him and his

education.”

“It has good test results and has had a great reputation for a

long time.”

Reasons for Selecting School

Reputation

Neighborhood School / Location

Teachers/Staff

Choices

Overview of Data

• Over 90% of parents are satisfied with the decision to attend the school they attended last year.

• Over 80% and in some cases 90% of parents are satisfied with the literacy & math curriculum as well as electives offered.

• Over 70% of parents are satisfied with the types of schools available in the district.

• STEM programming seems to be the type of school that over 70% of parents desire, followed by special needs/GT and arts schools.

Satisfaction with Current

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

% Agree or Strongly Agree

Elementary

Middle

High

Choices

Offerings Wanted within School

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

% Probably or Definitely

Elementary

Middle

High

Choices

Types of Schools Wanted

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

% Yes

Elementary

Middle

High

Choices

Make Your Voice Heard Student Survey

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Pe

rce

nta

ge S

ele

cte

d

Interest Areas: Percentage Selected by Grade Level

Middle School

High School

Choices: Student Voice

Common theme of access issues in the decision making process, during the enrollment process, and when considering programmatic offerings or types of schools.

Decision Making •Access to transportation/location •Access to information to aid in decisions

Enrollment Process •Access to computers/internet to enroll •Access to information regarding the process

Program Offerings •Access to programs and schools

Focus Group Findings

Enrollment Decision Making

“I want my daughter to get the best education but I have [no] way to

get her across town everyday.”

“We picked it because it

was a neighborhood school, but once we got

there... The teachers were great. The staff

were great.”

Teachers/Staff

“I was really focusing on the way they present the

curriculum. This is my thing.”

“My cousin’s kids went to the same

school and my kids go there.”

Family / Friends

Academic Experiences

“She didn’t pick up her grades by the end of

the year... [So] we’re gonna move her to a

different school. “

“Location for me. It’s the simplest.”

Location

Decision Making

Enrollment Process

“I like the online idea… [but] I don’t have

internet. I can’t afford the internet.”

Access

“I’ve tried to pull up Jeffco Connect… that’s

the only roadblock that I have right now.”

“They said this isn’t

your home school… So I just assumed that he had to go to… your

home school.”

“I believe that they are very selective.”

Awareness / Information

“So now we are smart

enough to know January is the time to do the

choice enrollment since it

isn’t advertised.” “I just heard it was an

open district but I have no experience.”

Enrollment Process

Desired Offerings and Schools

“I’m sure you can say ‘Catholic school,’

‘Montessori school’ but we just need a great

school.” “I just think charter

schools give students some more selection…

Each school is so different and they learn

differently.”

“My daughter was so

crushed when she didn’t get the grant and we couldn’t pay for the class. I felt horrible.”

“They have like the

afterschool program, but the problem with

that is there’s no transportation.”

Types of Schools

Access

“I like the fact that they offer Spanish. I think

that’s important to start kids even in younger

schools.”

“High school is very sports focused,

elementary is not.”

Types of Programs

Offerings

• Add preschool results

• Analyze additional open ended comments

• Dig deeper into the data based on direction from BOE and Superintendent

Next Steps