Why Parents Choose: Examining Factors Influencing Urban-Suburban Parents to Participate in Schools-within-Schools Programs of Choic

During an era of a strong movement toward national school choice and the much-debated topic of school vouchers, it is critical for today's public school leaders to understand why families make the decision to leave their neighborhood schools and enroll in other school choice options. This study situated school choice within the context of an urban-suburban school district implementing a school-within-school (SWS) program of choice model. Often referred to as multiplex schools, SWS models are becoming more prevalent as public school leaders strive to compete in a market-driven society saturated with public, charter, and open-enrollment school choice options. From this lens, the research examined the factors influencing parents in an urban-suburban school district to participate in one of the eight intra-district, SWS programs of choice. These findings have major implications for the design and marketing of programs that will meet the diverse needs of public school families searching for educational options that meet the individualized needs of their children.;The research approach utilized common quantitative analysis techniques to examine parents' rationale for participating in SWS choice programs and their perception of increased parental involvement and students' engagement. An SPSS Statistics software program was utilized to evaluate each of these areas by geographic zone of residence. The study concluded with recommendations for future research and public school leaders considering choice programming options.