The Civic Tech of School Enrollment:

Effects of School Chooser Tools

Eric Reese, Associate Director

ereese@jhu.edu | @ereese15

Twitter @ereese15

Twitter @ereese15

Twitter @ereese15

GovEx <3 civic tech

- Growing expectation that government

services are also digital

- Pay utility bills, report potholes, get your

driver’s license renewed...and more

- Growth of public-focused tech cos/orgs

- Code for America & civic hackers

- Expanding vendor ecosystem

- Our work with cities

- US cities: data & UX improvements to achieve

public goals

- Outside US - Vilnius: specific goals and

partner with private sector

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Civic tech: tool that improves flow of civic information

Here’s a service!

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Policies can hinge on improved access to information

In order to work, some policies require a

broad stakeholder group to consider

significant amounts of new information.

“School choice” is a good example:

Increases students’ education opportunities

by giving them more enrollment options

Assumes students perform better by

choosing schools that better fit their needs

Without broadening access to information about enrollment options,

“school choice” policies are unlikely to work.

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Implementing school choice in cities

School reform initiatives are policy

innovations aimed at achieving popular

goals.

These conform to specific policy

context and educational structure:

US - Two main drivers

Quality - improving outcomes for students

Choice - improving mobility among schools

Vilnius - growing and unable to keep

up with demand for kindergartens.

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Nexus of school choice and civic tech: school choosers

Vilnius Cleveland

What is a school chooser?

An online tool designed to help parents/guardians discover more information

about schools within a particular area, often a city or school district.

Insert photo of Vilnius tool

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What are the effects of school finder tools?

1. Are the tools helping school districts achieve primary policy goals (e.g.,

increased choice, increased equity?)

2. Are the tools helping school districts achieve secondary administrative goals

(e.g., efficiency?)

3. Are the tools creating change as civic tech (e.g., changing policy to serve

users, cascading digitization, bias in who is served?)

Research design:

Interviews with program leaders and software developers, evaluation of

longitudinal enrollment data in three municipal cases (Vilnius, LT; Cleveland, OH;

Washington, DC.)

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Early evidence: achieving primary goals?

Primary goal: Students choose schools with better outcomes (better fit, higher

performing, more space)

Evidenced by: More students using the tool enrolled in schools other than the

closest available

Vilnius: Yes

- 4,000 unique users of tool in first

year available

- More students enrolling at schools

with shorter wait lists

Cleveland: Yes

- Enrollments in high-performing

schools rose, applications to failing

schools dropped by 50%.

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Early evidence: achieving secondary goals?

Secondary goal: School enrollment is a more efficient process

Evidenced by: Lower cost to enroll per student

Vilnius: Partial/unclear

- Efficient integration of tool with

enrollment (linking back and forth)

- Uncovered and investigated

incidents of manipulation/

corruption

Cleveland: Partial/unclear

- Savings from online enrollment

- Additional cost of mobile in-person

outreach

- Some outreach costs borne by new

non-profit

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Early evidence: other civic-tech effects?

Internal policy changes: interactions with

tool development changed policy

Digitization of new data: new uses of

data from tools, including data on what

kinds of schools people want and where

Unintended anti-equity consequences:

mitigated in Cleveland with in-person

outreach, but still evident

Tech: updating legal with making it more

friendly to individuals. Instead of wild west

of tech and legal later (or no legal at all)

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Takeaways So Far1. Early stage in this research. Planning to

complete case studies this fall, produce

whitepaper this spring.

2. Integrating into larger context. How

does civic tech help cities achieve goals?

3. Understanding equity.

In the context of school choice, this is a

challenge: philosophical problem to

balance individual equity achievements

against total system.

Interested in collaborating in research on school

enrollment tech – or on understanding other civic tech

tools cities are using to achieve goals?

Get in Touch!

Eric Reese - ereese@jhu.edu

Emily Shaw - emilyshaw@jhu.edu