Evidence-based guide on presenting school choice information to parents¶

Element · All elements
Evidence · 4 claims (4 for) · 3 studies (3 causal), q1–q3 · 0 of 3 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

A guide funded by the U.S. Department of Education to fill a gap in evidence-based guidance, since "there is little evidence-based guidance on how to present information about schools to the public." It distills experimental findings about how presentation of school information affects parents' understanding, ease of use, satisfaction, and school rankings into usable guidance for presenting school choice information.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Parents must be presented with information that is "understandable and user-friendly to help make an informed decision."
• Readers seeking the study's design, methods, and findings must consult the technical appendix, which the page says provides that full description

Constraints¶

• The guide is based on an experiment using information for "a hypothetical school district," not live district information systems.
• The supplied page contains only publication metadata and no guide content or study findings

Target Learners¶

• Parents choosing schools for their children
• parents choosing among schools

Target Learning Goals¶

• Making informed school choices from presented school information
• understanding and using school choice information when shopping for schools

Claims¶

• How school information is presented can affect how parents rank their school choices [+M]
• The way school information is presented to parents affects how that information is understood, perceived, and used, according to the study behind the guide [+W]
• Five school-information design factors each showed impacts on parents' knowledge, attitudes, or choice behavior [+M]
• Displaying data with icons or concise summaries led parents to choose schools with higher academic performance than graphs, numbers, or detailed displays [+M]

Related Elements¶

• Online school chooser tool for low-income parents

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Steven Glazerman, Ira Nichols-Barrer, Jon Valant, Alyson Burnett. (2018). Presenting School Choice Information to Parents: An Evidence-Based Guide. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/presenting-school-choice-information-to-parents-an-evidence-based-guide
• Steven Glazerman, Ira Nichols-Barrer, Jon Valant, Alyson Burnett. (2018). Presenting School Choice Information to Parents: An Evidence-Based Guide, Appendix. National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/presenting-school-choice-information-to-parents-an-evidence-based-guide-appendix