HomePostTopic: K–12

K–12

As August ushers in a new school year, nearly two million students are headed back to Georgia’s 2,300 public schools. How are Georgia schools doing when it comes to preparing kids for work and life? Here are a few key measures of education in Georgia that parents and communities should know as students return to the classroom. 

Learning in Georgia

Results from the latest Georgia Milestones Assessment show students are still struggling with math and reading. In math, 54% of third-graders and 56% of eighth-graders were below proficiency. 

In reading, 45% of eighth-graders were at grade level or above. Third-graders are even further behind—only 38% met proficiency in reading. While that number is up from 36% in 2020, it’s still below pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, 42% of third-graders were reading at grade-level or above. 

Demographic data from the Milestones Assessment shows Black and Hispanic third-graders are struggling most when it comes to reading.

Reading proficiency by third grade is a crucial milestone for Georgia’s students. Not only is it necessary for learning in later grades, but it’s also an indicator of future stability and economic opportunity. That’s because literacy is closely linked to high school completion and participation in the workforce. 

 Children who can’t read proficiently by third grade are more likely to drop out of high school, have lower earning potential, and experience higher rates of poverty and unemployment. 

  • The median annual earnings of adults ages 25 to 35 who had not completed high school was $6,300 less than those with a high school diploma.
  • Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a 6.2% unemployment rate for people with no high school diploma. It drops to 4.2% for high school graduates and 2.8% for those with an associate’s degree.
  • The poverty rate for those with no high school diploma is 25.1%, compared to 13.1% for those who have finished high school. In Georgia, where an estimated 1.4 million people live in poverty, 25% would roughly equate to 350,000 people. 

A literacy study from the Annie E. Casey Foundation sums up what’s at stake for kids in Georgia and the country if reading proficiency continues to slide: 

 “The bottom line is that if we don’t get dramatically more children on track as proficient readers, the United States will lose a growing and essential proportion of its human capital to poverty, and the price will be paid not only by individual children and families, but by the entire country.” 

Enrollment

Georgia public schools enrolled 1,736,730 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, according to the Georgia Department of Education’s spring 2025 enrollment count. That number marks a drop of 10,964 students from spring 2024. 

As Georgia has taken steps to expand education opportunities, more families are embracing new schooling options to find the best education fit for their kids. Homeschooling is on the rise, and over 15,000 families applied to Georgia’s newest school choice program, the Promise Scholarship, between March 2 and June 30.

Students missing school

Georgia, like many states, is battling a crisis of chronic absenteeism. These are students missing 10% or more of school days—a situation that puts kids further behind in academic progress and raises the high school dropout risk.

Chronic absenteeism and its risks tend to be higher among students from low-income families, students of color, and students with disabilities.  

In Georgia, absenteeism skyrocketed between 2020 and 2021 in the wake of pandemic school closures. In 2019, 12.1% of students had been chronically missing school. By 2021, that number had jumped to 20.1%. Only recently, in 2025, did the percentage dip below 20% for the first time in four years. 

Public school spending

On average, Georgia spends $14,660 on K-12 education per pupil. Pre-kindergarten and K-12 education spending accounts for 38% of the state budget, making it Georgia’s biggest line item. In 2025, the state budget included $13.3 billion for Georgia’s public schools, which was a $1.4 billion increase from 2024. 

Despite these amounts, state funding is only a portion of overall revenue for public schools. Local taxes are the biggest source of education dollars, and a small percentage comes from federal funding. 

New education laws in place this year

Georgia lawmakers passed a handful of education-related bills in 2025 that will impact schools as of this academic year. 

The Georgia Literacy Act stops the use of an instructional reading method called “three-cueuing,” which research has shown to be ineffective. Instead, the law ensures teachers are trained in the science of reading—the evidence-based methods that have proven most successful for teaching reading. 

This is a hopeful step for Georgia students, especially in light of results that similar reforms have had in other states. ExcelinEd specifically noted the astonishing transformation in Mississippi: “Mississippi’s fourth-grade Black students have risen to third in the nation in both reading and math, and Hispanic and low-income students have claimed the top spots in reading and second place in math nationwide.” 

In addition to addressing literacy, Georgia lawmakers have also taken steps to improve school learning environments. Starting this year, a new cell phone law will put stricter limits on student phone use during school hours. The goal is to cut down on distractions and help students stay engaged in the classroom. 

What’s next for education in Georgia?

Georgia’s education measures are more than data. Behind the numbers are real children who will be the next generation of mothers, fathers, business owners, employees, and voters in our state. A quality education is necessary for giving them strong, opportunity-filled futures. 

Solutions to boost math and reading proficiency and address chronic absenteeism can strengthen Georgia’s public schools. These are worthwhile steps to support students whose best—and often only—education option is the local public school. 

At the same time, Georgia leaders should be doing everything possible to remove financial and social barriers to quality education and empowering students and families to access the school of their choice. Prioritizing more opportunities over limited choices is the best way to prevent a lack of quality education from locking Georgia’s kids and communities into poverty.

Image Credit: Canva

Education savings accounts in Georgia empower parents to customize their child's education.

Key Points

  • Education plays a powerful role in breaking the cycle of poverty and helping children lead healthy, flourishing lives. Education savings accounts in Georgia are a solution to help more kids get the benefits of a quality education. 
  • Georgia’s education savings account program is the Promise Scholarship. Starting in fall 2025, it will give eligible families $6,500 scholarships to access the education option that best meets their child’s needs. 
  • Education savings accounts, or ESAs, in Georgia can have several positive impacts on communities, including better support for public schools, less crime, and greater upward mobility. 

Education is an essential building block for a healthy, flourishing life. It has the power to break the cycle of poverty that can persist across generations.

When children from impoverished backgrounds receive a quality education, they’re more likely to escape poverty themselves and provide better opportunities for future generations. 

Good education goes hand-in-hand with many other positive outcomes—like better jobs, higher personal income, valuable relationships, better physical health, and a longer life. 

We all want these good things for children in our communities. Education savings accounts are one solution that Georgia can use to increase opportunity and prosperity for students who need it most.

What are education savings accounts?

Education savings accounts, also called ESAs, give parents a portion of state education funding that they can use to tailor their child’s education if traditional public school isn’t a good fit.

ESA programs expand education opportunity by giving parents greater flexibility and freedom in education choices. Whether a family prefers homeschooling, private schooling, or other alternatives, ESAs let parents access the best type of education for their child’s unique needs and interests.

The Georgia Promise Scholarship helps students in low-performing public schools access education options for their needs.

Get Started With Georgia’s ESA Program: The Georgia Promise Scholarship

Georgia is getting ready to launch Promise Scholarships in the fall of 2025. If you’re interested in enrolling your child, make sure you’re signed up to hear about next steps.

Get on the List for Updates

How do ESAs work?

To create education savings accounts programs, states must first pass a law. States then take a portion of what they would have spent on the student’s public school education and put it into a state-administered account.

Parents can use these funds for a range of education expenses—tuition, tutoring, homeschooling curriculum, educational therapies, online programs, or even a combination of educational services. States require parents to complete an application process to switch to an ESA. 

What do families get from education savings accounts in Georgia?

  • Flexibility: ESAs let parents customize their kid’s education.
  • Financial Support: ESAs allow states to expand access to options that families may not be able to afford otherwise. 
  • Empowerment: Parents can take charge of their child’s education journey with confidence.
  • Diverse Options: Parents can explore various educational paths that suit their child’s needs and interests.

What is Georgia’s ESA program?

Created in 2024, Georgia’s ESA program is the Georgia Promise Scholarship. It provides state-funded scholarship accounts that give eligible families $6,500 per student for each school year.

The program will be available starting in the 2025-2026 school year, and it will be limited to students in the lowest-performing public schools.

Child raising hand in classroom

Georgia’s Promise Scholarship Explained
Find out what the program is, how it works, and which students will be eligible. 

See the Promise Scholarship FAQs

Who do education savings account help in Georgia?   

ESAs are for all kinds of students. Whether a child is struggling in school or has special learning needs, ESAs can help. Georgia’s ESA program, the Promise Scholarship, is specifically designed to help families who may not have the resources to access better opportunities. 

Students in Underperforming Schools

Thousands of Georgia kids are stuck in public schools that have received a failing grade from the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement. To help these kids in particular, the Promise Scholarship will be for students in the bottom 25% of Georgia’s public schools. With an ESA, these students can access higher-quality education options that prepare them for successful careers and fulfilling lives.  

Low-Income Students

Choosing a different school or educational path has often been a privilege for wealthier families. What about families that struggle to make ends meet? 

With an ESA, low-income families can consider schooling options that may be out of reach otherwise. The Georgia Promise Scholarship makes sure these students are helped first. Available scholarships will go to families below 400% of the federal poverty level (around $120,000/year for a family of four). Any leftover funding can then serve students above that threshold. 

Students With Special Needs

ESA programs are a lifeline for students who need support beyond what their local public school can provide. ESAs make it possible to access schools that are set up to help students who have unique learning needs and disabilities. ESA funds can also help pay for other essential resources like tutoring, therapies, and learning technologies. 

Homeschooling Families

ESAs don’t just cover school tuition. They can pay for curriculum, online programs, and supplies, giving parents the option to fully customize their child’s education. This flexibility means that ESAs can help families who want to homeschool as an alternative to public or private schools. 

What kind of impact could ESAs have on communities in Georgia? 

Since Georgia’s ESA program, the Georgia Promise Scholarship, is new, it will be a few years before we know its exact impact on our communities. But we can get an idea from other states that have ESAs, including a couple of Georgia’s neighbors.

  • Better support for public schools: In 2011, Arizona became the first state to adopt ESAs. The state soon found that the program was helping to redirect state and federal dollars back to public schools where it could be used for teacher pay and operational needs.

  • Better outcomes for low-income students: Created in 2019, Florida’s ESA program is now the largest in the country. A November 2023 study of Florida’s education system looked at the impact of growing school choice. It found students of lower socioeconomic backgrounds—including those who stayed in public schools—experienced some of the greatest benefits.

  • Better economic opportunity and healthier societies: Tennessee is still working to expand its ESA program, but a study from the Beacon Center of Tennessee found that a statewide program could have incredible social impact. Their model predicted that Tennessee could have more high school graduates, higher overall personal income, less criminal activity and fewer felons, and $2.9 billion in economic benefits.

Do parents want education savings accounts in Georgia? 

Overall, Americans are worried about the direction of public K-12 education. 

  • Half of Americans think it’s moving in the wrong direction. 
  • 82% of teachers say the state of public K-12 education has worsened in the last five years. 
  • Only 46% of school parents in Georgia think K-12 education is on the right track in the state of Georgia. 

It’s not surprising, then, that Georgia parents are open to more school choice policies: 76% of Georgia school parents say they’re in favor of an ESA program.

A majority of school parents in Georgia think it's a good idea to have education savings accounts in Georgia.

What are common concerns about education savings accounts in Georgia?

Concern: ESAs take funding away from public schools.  

Georgia communities don’t have to worry about this because state lawmakers are not using public school funding for the Georgia Promise Scholarship. Promise Scholarship funding is also not allowed to exceed 1% of public school funding. This set-up means public school funding is fully protected. 

In general, more research is showing that, when states invest in school choice programs like ESAs, public schools benefit financially and academically. They have more per-pupil funding, less budgetary pressure, and better student outcomes. 

Concern: ESAs favor wealthy families and don’t help kids who actually need the opportunity. 

Quality education is a building block of a healthy, flourishing life, regardless of a family’s financial situation. ESAs are a tool states can use to ensure there’s more equality when it comes to education opportunities. 

Even if an ESA program is universal—where every student is eligible—the students who gain the most opportunities are those most in need. Here in Georgia, our ESA program, the Promise Scholarship, limits eligibility to students in low-income households to make sure they get helped first. 

Concern: ESAs are just another private school voucher. 

Education savings accounts can be used for private school tuition but also for much more! Unlike private school scholarships, ESAs can be used for a wider range of education expenses—including tuition, tutoring, online programs, education therapies, curriculum, and textbooks. 

Concern: ESAs don’t help families in rural areas. 

Rural areas may not have as many schools to choose from, but thanks to the flexibility of ESAs, this doesn’t have to be a reason for states to avoid ESA programs.

Take Tanya Schlegel’s story, for example. Tanya is a mom of two kids with special needs living in rural Georgia. Despite her best efforts to work with the local public school, it just isn’t equipped to give special needs students the help they need. An ESA would give her the resources to homeschool and access specialized therapies so that her kids can have the type of education that matches their needs. 

Georgia ESAs: Quick Facts

  • Georgia is one of 16 states with an ESA program. 
  • 10 states have universal ESA programs, meaning all students are eligible. Georgia is not yet one of them. 
  • Georgia’s ESAs are worth $6,500 per student per school year.
  • 76% of school parents in Georgia support ESAs.

Interested in Georgia’s ESA program? 

Go here to sign up for updates as the Georgia Promise Scholarship gets up and running. 

Other Schooling Options in Georgia

survey

Key Points

  •  A new survey puts forward more evidence of increased social and behavioral problems among students in K-12 public schools arising from the pandemic.

  • Georgia parents need more education options for their children. 
  • GCO is working to bring a new curriculum, called Raising Highly Capable Kidz (RHCK), to schools, nonprofits, churches, and other outlets across the state.

We’ve paid a lot of attention to learning loss arising from school shutdowns during the pandemic, and rightly so. The results of the latest Nation’s Report Card from the U.S. Department of Education, for example, show test scores in reading and math in public schools at their lowest levels in decades.

But there is another side to the cost of school closures that doesn’t get as much attention — the social side. Now, a new survey puts forward more evidence of increased social and behavioral problems among students in K-12 public schools arising from the pandemic.

According to the annual School Pulse Panel published by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences, more than eight in 10 public schools “have seen stunted behavioral and socioemotional development in their students because of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The survey went on to find that “minor offenses, such as tardiness and classroom disruptions, are the most frequently cited illicit behaviors that have increased in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Here are some notable excerpts from the survey:

  • 84% of surveyed public school leaders said the pandemic had “negatively impacted the behavioral development of students” in their schools
  • 30% reported an increase in bullying as a result of the pandemic
  • 33% reported physical attacks between students
  • 36% reported threats of physical attacks or fights between students
  • 49% reported a jump in student “rowdiness outside of the classroom (e.g., hallways, lunchroom)”
  • 56% reported “classroom disruptions from student misconduct”
  • 42% reported “use of cell phones, computers, other electronics when not permitted”
  • 24% reported vandalism
  • 11% of public schools reported an increase in physical attacks on teachers or staff members influenced by the pandemic
  • 13% reported threats to injure a teacher or staff member
  • 36% reported verbal abuse of teachers or staff members.

 

The Raising Highly Capable Kids model is built on an evidence-based program that teaches 40 developmental assets that reduce risky behavior in kids and teens. We are looking for partners to help bring this to our community.

The Raising Highly Capable Kids model is built on an evidence-based program that teaches 40 developmental assets that reduce risky behavior in kids and teens. We are looking for partners to help bring this to our community.

Where to go from here

So, what are we supposed to do with this information? Here are three takeaways.

  1. Learning loss is only part of the equation

We must remember that other factors are also at play beyond learning less when determining strategies to help students recover. Isolation, increased screen time, chance of physical or emotional abuse, substance abuse, and general anxiety over the direction of society are just some of the factors in play here. And the sad reality is that many of these negative trend lines were already in place for young people prior to the pandemic. The pandemic simply revealed and worsened them.

  1. Georgia needs more options

The struggles students are facing in public schools underscores the need for a diverse menu of educational options, open and available to all families regardless of income or zip code. Every student deserves an education customized to his or her individual needs and aptitudes. This is why tools like an Education Scholarship Account are so important. An ESA in Georgia would empower parents to pick the best educational option — or the best assortment of educational tools — for their unique student.

In the last session of the Georgia Legislature, lawmakers fell short of passing ESAs in the form of Promise Scholarships, which would have allotted $6,000 a year for families to choose alternative educational approaches. The Georgia Center for Opportunity team is hopeful things will be different this session and that ESAs will finally become a reality.

  1. Students in traditional public schools need help, too

Even as educational options expand in Georgia, the fact remains that most families will still choose their locally zoned public school. These students need help, too. That’s why GCO is working to bring a new curriculum, called Raising Highly Capable Kidz (RHCK), to schools, nonprofits, churches, and other outlets across the state. RHCK is a 13-week evidence-based parenting program developed to build stronger families by empowering parents with the confidence, tools, and skills they need to raise healthy, caring, and responsible children. The course works through 40 key development assets to help kids.

The GCO team will be working to roll out the RHCK curriculum across Georgia in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned for more!

The undeniable truth is that parents want more educational options for their children and the kids certainly deserve it after historic learning losses caused by government-mandated school closures.
A recent poll from the Walton Family Foundation found that 72% of voters believe “improving K-12 education” should be a top priority for state lawmakers headed into 2023. Only the economy and inflation ranked higher at 76%. Furthermore, the poll reveals the number of parents who want bold actions jumped by 10% from 2021 to 2022. Nearly half are now demanding major changes because minor, incremental improvements are not helping their kids catch up.
Of the learning losses from pandemic-induced classroom closures, 75% of parents said their “students are mostly still behind,” while two-thirds said their students have lost learning due to the pandemic.
Let’s not merely dismiss parental concerns about education with more lip-service or another round of half-hearted efforts that merely pour more money into unworkable solutions. After all, if one-size-fits-all solutions or throwing more money at the status quo worked, major educational reforms wouldn’t be in such high demand across the nation.
Behind the statistics are real-life stories of students and parents devastated because they are not succeeding academically but can see other promising options that are just out of reach financially. This is a heartbreaking scenario too many families are facing.
The good news is there are real ways to address learning loss by tailoring education to fit individual needs. The simplest and best way to empower students is through funding scholarship accounts that provide the flexibility that parents and guardians need and offer real results.
Direct scholarships that fund students over an educational bureaucracy tips the balance of power in favor of those who best understand the needs of their child. It allows parents and guardians to access funds directly so they can purchase curriculum, pay for private school tuition, private tutoring, or even individual therapy for the child they love. It’s better than vouchers because it can do more than just pay a tuition bill. The added assistance will improve many public schools — since it boosts student performance no matter where families decide to access education.
Unfortunately, last year’s Promise Scholarships, which would have allocated $6,000 in funds for ESAs, did not pass the legislature. It was a major lost opportunity for students and their frustrated families throughout our state.
Given that state lawmakers reconvene this month, it’s time for them to make up for the lost opportunity by passing ESAs into law and expanding educational freedom for young Georgians and their families.
And we have reason to be hopeful that that’s just what they’ll do. The new lineup of leadership in the Georgia legislature increases the likelihood that ESAs will become law. In both chambers of the General Assembly, the leadership teams have nearly universal pro- educational opportunity voting records in recent history — something very new to the Georgia political landscape.
The simple truth is that it’s past time for our elected leaders to make good on their fundamental obligation to provide for the effective education of every child in Georgia. Parents and guardians are demanding it and their students are suffering without it. It’s time for true leaders to step forward and deliver.
We will stand and fight with these families until more options like Promise Scholarship are a reality.

Read the full article here

Originally published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

HS boy with tablet

Key Points

  • On the House side, the leadership team has nearly universal pro-educational opportunity voting record in recent history.

  • Seventy-five percent said “students are mostly still behind due to school closures” from the pandemic, while two-thirds of parents said their students have lost learning due to the pandemic. 

  • Georgia must follow in the footsteps of states like Arizona and West Virginia, which recently passed significant new laws that expand educational access for all.

Those who support opening up access to all educational options for every child in Georgia have a lot to celebrate this holiday season. That’s because a new lineup of leadership in the Georgia Legislature increases the likelihood that our state will soon see new and innovative ways for parents to access the right and best educational option for their child.

New leadership, new opportunities

Following the results of the 2022 elections, new leadership will be taking over both chambers of the state legislature. On the House side, the leadership team has nearly universal pro-educational opportunity voting record in recent history: Jan Jones (Speaker Pro Tem), Chuck Efstration (Majority Leader), James Burchett (Majority Whip), Bruce Williamson (Caucus Chair), Houston Gaines (Caucus Vice Chair), and Ginny Ehrhart (Caucus Treasurer) all have 100% pro-educational freedom voting records.

The only member of House leadership without a perfect record on these issues is the new House Speaker, Burns. But even he only has one vote off, the 2018 vote on the Educational Savings Account, the last time a bill of this nature was voted on in the House. Burns was nominated by the Republican caucus to become House Speaker beginning in the 2023 session.

What about on the Senate side? The good news is that only one member of Senate leadership — Jason Anavitarte, Caucus Chair — voted against the 2022 bill that would have created Promise Scholarship Accounts. But Anavitarte voted “yes” on other pieces of educational opportunity legislation, including raising the tax credit scholarship cap and increasing funding for charter schools. Other top members of Senate leadership — including President Pro Tem John Kennedy, Majority Leader Steve Gooch, and Majority Whip Randy Robertson — all have 100% positive voting records when it comes to educational opportunity.

Parents want more options

A recent poll from the Walton Family Foundation found that parents who voted are deeply concerned about the direction of K-12 public education in the United States.

The poll found that 72% of voters believe “improving K-12 education” should be a top priority for state lawmakers headed into 2023. Only the economy and inflation ranked higher at 76%. 

Americans are also still deeply concerned about learning losses from pandemic-induced classroom closures. Seventy-five percent said “students are mostly still behind due to school closures” from the pandemic, while two-thirds of parents said their students have lost learning due to the pandemic. 

On average, parents said their kids missed 21 days of school in 2021 due to the pandemic. 

As for what changes need to be in store for K-12 education, in Oct. 2021 36% of voters said they wanted to see “bold changes” for schools, while that number jumped to 46% by Nov. 2022. 

Voters’ top priorities include ensuring that every child is on track in reading, writing, and math; addressing the teacher shortage; offering more career and technical education; and improving security and safety on school grounds. 




Georgia must follow in the footsteps of states like Arizona and West Virginia, which recently passed significant new laws that expand educational access for all.

Georgia must follow in the footsteps of states like Arizona and West Virginia, which recently passed significant new laws that expand educational access for all.

Expanding educational access

Throughout the 2023 session, the Georgia Center for Opportunity will be advocating for a bill similar to the one in 2022, for Promise Scholarship Accounts. Key facets of these accounts would be to enable all Georgia families to attend the school that best fits their student’s needs.

The 2022 version of the bill would have offered families up to $6,000 a year for approved education expenses. Promise Scholarships would step far beyond a typical voucher by fully putting parents in the driver’s seat when it comes to their child’s education. The funds could have been used for private-school tuition, but there would have been added flexibility depending on each family’s unique needs, extending to paying for things like tutoring, specialized therapies, or homeschool co-ops.

Georgia must follow in the footsteps of states like Arizona and West Virginia, which recently passed significant new laws that expand educational access for all.



 

kids in classroom

Georgia’s K-12 students fell months behind during remote learning. We need solutions now.

Why it Matters:

 

We can move forward. Let your voice be heard. 

Between three and six months behind.

That’s how severe learning losses have been for Georgia’s K-12 students during the pandemic, according to a new official report from the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts Performance Audit Division. The learning loss was prompted due to school closures and forced online learning, which didn’t work well for many students.

Not surprisingly, the impacts were hardest on kids from low-income, minority families, and those where English is a second language. In other words, the families who could least afford or navigate the disruptions were impacted the most.

For example, the report found students in majority white schools were four months behind in math and three months behind in reading. Contrast that with majority black schools, where students were behind by six months in both reading and math, on average.

For a solution, the report strongly recommended federal COVID-19 relief funds be used to combat learning losses and put the best interventions in place.

We agree, but that’s only a starting place. Every parent across Georgia must have the ability to choose the right school for their child, now more than ever. Especially during a pandemic when students are falling further and further behind, we can’t afford to make the issue of educational opportunity a political talking point. Kids’ lives and futures hang in the balance.

Now more than ever, your voice as a parent is crucial. We want to amplify your voice and make sure our education leaders across Georgia hear it loud and clear. Sign our petition and tell leaders that it’s time to get our kids back on track!

Sign the Petition

Field Trips In The Time Of COVID

 

By Heidi Holmes Erickson

 

We all remember a time as students when we boarded a bus, a brown paper bag with a smashed sandwich in hand, anxiously waiting as our teacher gave us information about the day’s field trip. Field trips are a long-standing tradition in K-12 education and may be some of our most vivid memories from school. Butin the  COVID-19 era, field trips may be non-existent for the upcoming school year as many school districts across the country prepare for fully virtual instruction.  

Many parents are already looking for ways to supplement the virtual education experience. Families are forming academic/learning pods; joining (and forming) homeschool co-ops, hybrid homeschools, or micro-schools; and searching out anything that will help enhance their children’s education and expose them to a world outside of their own home (and, let’s be honest, keep parents’ sanity). This is where museums and other cultural institutions can help.

There is a growing body of research that finds that culturally enriching field trips to art museums, the theater, and other such institutions are an important part of education.Students experience significant educational and social emotional benefits from such culturally enriching trips, including greater tolerance, empathy, higher academic achievement, and greater school engagement, with some evidence that economically disadvantaged students experiences the largest gains. 

The Importance of Field Trips

Why do students see such significant benefits from field trips? There isn’t a clear answer, but one theory is that arts expose students to a broader world beyond their own. Art exposes all of us to people, places, ideas, cultures, and history that we didn’t know before. In a time where students have limited interactions outside of their own homes and neighborhoods, arts and other cultural institutions can provide connecting experiences. 

Art museums typically see thousands of school groups throughout the year. With social distancing guidelines, however, it seems impossible to take an entire class of young children anywhere, let alone on a bus to a theater. Yet many museums and some theaters have now reopened and are offering tours for small groups, limiting capacity inside, or moving to outdoor venues. 

For example, here in Georgia, the High Museum of Art is open daily with reservations, and the Alliance Theatre is preparing for the 2020-21 season which includes multiple productions for youth as well as young children. Museums can easily and safely accommodate “academic pods” with a few children and parents. Now, attending museums with family and friends is not something new, but it may play a more important role in enhancing students’ education this cloistered year than it has previously.

 

The Power of Experience

These in-person cultural experiences are more important for student learning than some might expect. There is some evidence that field trips done “virtually” or in an at-home or in-class setting are not as impactful as when students visit the actual institutions. For instance, a recent study found that students who attended a live theater performance had greater command of the plot than students who saw a movie version of the same play. Another study found that students who visited an art museum asked more complex questions about works of art and recalled the experience in more detail than students who saw the same art but in a classroom setting. This evidence suggests that an in-person experience has a unique importance that isn’t always transferred to other settings. 

With the 2020-21 school year looking nothing like anyone could have predicted, parents and students should embrace the change and enjoy educational experiences that are not limited to something on a computer screen. Taking time away from instruction in core subjects isn’t going to harm student academic performance—it might even help!

Heidi Holmes Erickson

Heidi Holmes Erickson is a faculty member in the Education Economics Center at Kennesaw State University.

EVERY CHILD WITH ACCESS TO A QUALITY EDUCATION

 

A quality education is key to a child’s future success. Academic achievement paves the way to a good job, self-sufficiency, and the earned success we all want for our children. To learn more about education options in Georgia click here. 

Children excited as they leave school

COVID-19 Makes the Case for

Educational Flexibility Even Stronger

By Benjamin Scafidi 

With respect to school openings during this COVID-19 pandemic, a public health professor recently observed, “There are no ideal solutions here. No matter what schools do, they won’t make everyone happy.” Of course, that is true in the monolithic K-12 education system we have now.  But we can move away from a monolithic system. We can move to a system that empowers parents with more choices.

Calls for giving families choice in K-12 education go back to Thomas Paine in the Rights of Man, John Stuart Mill in On Liberty, and—the modern father of choice in education—Milton Friedman. Instead of giving government exclusive control over taxpayer funds for the education of youth, Paine, Mill, and Friedman suggested that taxpayer funds should go directly to families of school-aged children—where families would decide where their children are educated. The core issue is this: Who decides how taxpayer funds for education are spent—the government, as is largely the case now, or families?

 

Many reasons to support expanded educational opportunity

There are so many reasons to give families more choice in K-12 education. The balance of the extensive empirical research finds that choice programs have improved student achievement and educational attainment for students who exercise choice and improved outcomes for students who remain in public schools. Further, private schools appear to do a better job of providing students with important civic virtues like tolerance and volunteerism, and private school choice programs have promoted integration. And choice programs, including Georgia’s tax credit scholarship program, have been designed to save taxpayers money. 

Giving parents control over where their children are educated allows them to choose school and non-school offerings that are tailored to their children’s interests and needs. Under such a choice system, prospective schools and other education providers are incentivized to provide customized educational and social environments that meet the interests and needs of students and their families. And the evidence—including evidence here in Georgia—suggests that families that exercise choice are overwhelmingly much happier with the services in their students new schools of choice. 

In this era of COVID-19, there are now additional reasons to support educational opportunity—families have different health risk tolerances; families, students, and teachers have different underlying health conditions; and families have different health preferences. Public school districts going fully online do not permit families to sort their children into schools (and teachers to sort into schools) based on their varying health preferences. When entire public school districts go entirely online, they are providing what many families desire, but they are not providing what many other families want or need. 

As an example, a family with (a) one parent who can stay at home or work part-time from home; (b) a family member with an underlying health condition; and (c) older children may be delighted that their public school is fully online.

However, other families may not be happy with fully online schools. A family with one parent who works full-time outside the home; (b) young children; and (c) no underlying health concerns may desire five-day, full-day, face-to-face schooling with safety precautions. Online schooling may force some parents to quit their jobs. Of course, families of children with special needs may be subject to the most hardships with online schooling.

It is impossible for a one-size-fits-all approach to health concerns to meet the needs of all families. Meeting the diverse educational and social needs and interests of children—and now the differing health needs of students and their families in this era of COVID-19—is only possible in a choice system. 

 

What can states do to provide more educational choice to families? 

First, to the extent permitted by federal law, states should use existing and forthcoming federal education funds to offer families choice. South Carolina and Oklahoma are using federal CARES funding to provide scholarships for school-aged children. South Carolina is providing scholarships to defray private school tuition costs up to $6,500 for 5,000 students from low- and middle-income families, where $6,500 is just over half of what taxpayers spend to educate students in their public schools. 

Second, states should create new choice programs or expand existing ones.

The track record of existing education choice programs in the United States is strong. COVID-19 only makes the case for choice stronger. Hopefully, policymakers will rise to the occasion and give students and families an educational lifeline during these challenging times. 

 

BenJamin Scafidi
BenJamin Scafidi

Benjamin Scafidi is the director of the Education Economics Center at Kennesaw State University and a Friedman Fellow at EdChoice.

EVERY CHILD WITH ACCESS TO A QUALITY EDUCATION

 

A quality education is key to a child’s future success. Academic achievement paves the way to a good job, self-sufficiency, and the earned success we all want for our children. To learn more about education options in Georgia click here. 

Children excited as they leave school

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