Making the Moment Matter: National School Choice Week 2024 Key Information

More than 27,000 schools are planning community events across the country to celebrate their staff, students, and families and welcome interested parents. This includes:

We’re anticipating more than 1 million families exploring their school choice options using NSCW resources online.

Activities include school fairs, movie nights, capitol rallies, field trips, parades, talent shows, and more. Across the country, dozens of iconic state landmarks will light up in School Choice Week’s official colors, red and yellow.

More than 60 large-scale events with statewide impact are being planned for National School Choice Week 2024.

National School Choice Week 2024 begins on Sunday, January 21, and ends on Saturday, January 27.

This will be the fourteenth annual celebration of National School Choice Week. The first celebration of National School Choice Week was in January 2011.

The goal of National School Choice Week is to raise awareness about the K-12 education options available to families in communities across the country. During the Week, participants also shine a spotlight on the benefits of opportunity in education and providing parents with access to a variety of education environments for their children.

National School Choice Week does not prefer one type of education environment over another. Instead, we invite schools of all types – along with homeschooling groups and families – to use the Week to spotlight their achievements and accomplishments. National School Choice Week is nonpartisan, nonpolitical, and committed to including all school choice perspectives (traditional public schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, private schools, online academies, homeschooling, and microschooling) in the celebration.

The Week is held every January to empower parents to choose schools for their children during the best time of year to start the process of selecting a school. We also offer resources for parents that explain all the education options available in each type of school state-by-state. These can be found at schoolchoiceweek.com/mystate.

In 2023, the nation witnessed significant changes in education. National School Choice Week is dedicated to providing clarity for families in this evolving educational landscape. The event seeks to offer thorough responses to parents’ questions, helping them navigate and discover the most suitable school options for their children.

National School Choice Week is committed to assisting the entire U.S. population, and to that end, the Week features a project specifically designed for Hispanic families called “Conoce tus Opciones Escolares“. Getting information about the K-12 system has consistently been challenging for Spanish-speaking parents. This project was established in 2022 in direct response to the needs of bilingual families making educational decisions.

School choice means giving parents access to the best K-12 education options for their children. These options include traditional public schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, private schools, online learning, homeschooling, and microschools or mix-and-match learning. National School Choice Week is an annual effort that helps parents raise awareness of these options.

The Week is the best time for families to consider their education options for the next school year. Not only do great local schools in every community use the opportunity to connect with the community, but National School Choice Week provides parent-oriented resources that explain every type of school available in their state and provide the next steps to pursue any of them.

The National School Choice Awareness Foundation‘s January 2–4, 2024, survey shows a growing acceptance of school choice in the post-pandemic era. Key findings include a 35% increase (72% in 2023 compared to 52% in 2022) in parents considering new schools for their children. Additionally, 64% of parents express a desire for more information about education options, and only 29% believe the same school type suits all their children.

School choice is important because every child deserves an effective, challenging, and motivating education that inspires them to be successful and achieve their dreams. However, children learn in different ways and have different talents, skills, and challenges. What might be a good school for one student might not be a good fit for another child. School choice allows parents to identify the best learning environments for their individual children. Across the country:

In 2023 states fully embraced school choice, expanding options across traditional public, charter, magnet, private, online, and home education options. The push for school choice gained momentum due to the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and parents want to keep making active choices about their children’s education.

The school choice movement has been gaining momentum for over 30 years, and today, nontraditional environments like homeschooling have become one of the fastest-growing forms of education. This trend underscores parents’ strong desire to find schools that best meet the needs of their children.

46 states allow the creation of public charter schools. There are currently more than 7,600 charter schools in the U.S. serving about 3.5 million children.

All 50 states allow for the creation of magnet schools, which are theme-based public schools focusing on subjects such as math, science, technology, or arts. More than 4,000 magnet schools serve children across the country.

All 50 states have private school options for families. In 32 states, parents can access state-sponsored private school scholarships or tax deduction programs. Combined, these programs benefit well over 1 million children.

Parents