| Title: |
Did COVID Affect Middle School Choice? Distance, Transportation and the Zoned School. Technical Report |
| Language: |
English |
| Authors: |
Jeff Zabel; Samantha Trajkovski; Sarah A. Cordes; Amy Ellen Schwartz; National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice (REACH) |
| Source: |
National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice. 2025. |
| Availability: |
National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice. 1555 Poydras Street Suite 700, New Orleans, LA 70112. Tel: 870-540-6576; e-mail: info@reachcentered.org; Web site: https://reachcentered.org/ |
| Peer Reviewed: |
Y |
| Page Count: |
45 |
| Publication Date: |
2025 |
| Sponsoring Agency: |
Institute of Education Sciences (ED) |
| Contract Number: |
R305SC180025 |
| Document Type: |
Reports - Research |
| Education Level: |
Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Secondary Education; Elementary Education; Grade 6; Intermediate Grades |
| Descriptors: |
COVID-19; Pandemics; Middle School Students; School Choice; Grade 6; School Closing; In Person Learning; Educational Quality; Student Characteristics; Proximity; Bus Transportation; Student Transportation; Eligibility; Institutional Characteristics |
| Geographic Terms: |
New York (New York) |
| Abstract: |
There is growing evidence of a negative impact of COVID-19 on the academic performance of school-aged children and a widening of racial/SES disparities. The promise of school choice to reduce these disparities relied, to some extent, on the willingness and ability of families, particularly poor families, to choose better -- or better matched -- schools other than their zoned neighborhood school, their default. Unfortunately, COVID-19 may have reduced this willingness or ability to travel, or to investigate, choose, and attend schools outside their community. Given well-documented differences in the location of and access to high quality schools by race/ethnicity and income, such changes could have important consequences for educational inequality. This paper examines the middle school choices of 6th grade students in New York City before the COVID-19 Pandemic and after schools reopened focusing on changes in, school quality and demographics, distance to school, and eligibility for school busing. We begin by examining the choice to attend the default (zoned) middle school, rather than other potential choices, and then investigate the school and student characteristics that drive the choice of school among these alternatives, including eligibility for transportation. Our results indicate that after COVID, students traveled slightly farther to school and also attended a wider variety of schools. There was little difference in the importance of various school characteristics for predicting attendance at a students' 6th grade zoned school before and after the pandemic. One exception to this is eligibility for the school bus, which significantly increased the probability of enrollment at both zoned and choice/charter schools after the COVID pandemic. |
| Abstractor: |
As Provided |
| IES Funded: |
Yes |
| Entry Date: |
2026 |
| Accession Number: |
ED678943 |
| Database: |
ERIC |