School Choice is Personal

“What are the top 3 things you think about when choosing a school?”“What information would be most helpful when considering school options for your family?”“What makes your child happy?”“How does your student learn best?”These are just a few of the questions that Transformation Alliance staff members asked Cleveland parents from throughout the district while developing the School Choice Roadmap, a colorful, interactive worksheet designed as a conversation starter and collaborative planning tool. Using The Roadmap, School Quality Ambassadors can work hand-in-hand with local students and families to identify personalized priorities and goals related to school choice.Developed last year, School Choice Roadmaps are now available in both English and Spanish, thanks to a partnership with Esperenza, Inc., a Cleveland non-profit working with 8th-grade Hispanic students to improve academic achievement, with a focus on high school graduation and post-secondary educational attainment.School choice is personal. It can also be overwhelming, particularly when a family has multiple children. From student grade level, after-care availability and transportation concerns to sports programs and specialized learning needs — the variables are endless. Thankfully, Cleveland families don’t have to navigate the journey alone.The School Choice Roadmap was created to be used in tandem with MyCleSchool.org, Cleveland Transformation Alliance’s new website (2018) which offers personalized tools to help families sort through school data. The website also provides community reviews and detailed school information for all Cleveland public and district approved charter schools.Transformation Alliance recognizes that data isn’t enough when it comes to choosing the best educational options for a student or family. So the School Choice Roadmap and the Navigator program were developed to empower decision makers, laying out all their concerns and options in an easy-to-use format and offering additional support at key points during the decision-making process.Working to ensure that every child in Cleveland attends a quality school means measuring quality by the criteria families say is important to them, which includes much more than state report cards, performance ratings and student test scores.