COVID-19 has dramatically altered the student learning experience and led to an overall decrease in student attendance. However, based on our qualitative studies, we know that some districts have either held steady or even increased enrollment. We suspect that there is an important variation that has gone discussed.
At the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), we wanted to understand if reported dips in enrollment belie important differences in shifts in enrollment by specific groups of students. As part of a larger investigation of Washington State's education landscape, CRPE sourced enrollment data from September 2018 - November 2020 to answer the question, "where have the students gone?"
This memo first provides a summary of enrollment trends in both traditional public schools (TPS) and charter schools between September 2018 to September 2020, then highlights where the enrollment growth occurred, and finally concludes with questions on how to better understand student mobility during COVID-19.
Across all public schools, the total K-12 enrollment in September 2020 is lower than that of September 2019 and September 2018, a decrease of 4,288 (2.5 percent) and 4254 (2.5%) respectively (see Interactive Chart 1). Both elementary school and middle school enrollments in September 2020 were much lower than the previous September; however, high school enrollment increased across all grades from March to September 2020, and the September 2020 enrollment level surpassed the pre-COVID enrollment in 2018 and 2019.
When examining enrollment trends among TPS and charter schools separately, enrollment in charter schools in September 2020 is much higher than September 2019, an increase of 428 (12.5%). Charter school enrollment at elementary school and high school levels soared over the same period. On the other hand, TPS lost 4,716 (2.8 percent) in total student enrollment of September 2020 compared to September 2019. Almost all grade levels in TPS declined with elementary school enrollment decreased the most.
Overall, across all public schools in Washington State, both Alternative Learning Experience (ALE) program and Transitional Bilingual Instruction Program (TBIP) enrollments in September 2020 were higher than those of previous years, 142 (4.3%) and 1,510 (6.7%) respectively (see Interactive Chart 2). Over the same period, ALE enrollment at both elementary schools and middle schools grew, 238 (30.7%) and 11 (2.6%) respectively.
I used R to generate interactive visualization. Interactive graphs capture more information and allow users to explore further by themselves. Although the data revealed positive growth trends among particular groups of students, no sufficient information was provided for the months from March to June 2020. For a more complete comparison, all monthly data including historical data prior to 2018 should be considered in the analysis. It is important to note the following three points: first, enrollment in charter schools did not experience any decline; second, TBIP enrollment at both TPS and charter schools increased; third, ALE enrollment expanded despite the dip in TPS K-12 enrollment I would be interested in exploring the plausible explanation for these trends. For example, did parents feel safer sending their kids to public charter schools? Also, did TBIP parents worry more about their kids falling behind due to COVID? Finally, did ALE offerings adapt to COVID-19 changes sooner than traditional education programs?