Will Parents Exercise Choice to Access Advanced Education?

Let's look at the polling data!

(This post was co-authored with Jonathan Plucker, a professor at Johns Hopkins University who directs the education policy master’s program there, and Jennifer Madsen, the Vice President for Advocacy at the New Jersey Assocation for Gifted Children. Jonathan writes a Substack called Everyone Has a Plan.)

Despite widespread debates in school districts about whether to offer gifted and talented coursework to students, parents consistently tell us that advanced educational opportunities are important.

For example, in EdChoice’s tracker poll from May 2025, 71% of school parents said that it was extremely or very important that their child’s school offers advanced academic classes. An additional 20% said it was somewhat important—bringing us to an overwhelming 91% of parents who place importance on having advanced education options at school.

Among parents of gifted children, unsurprisingly, this number rises to 97% who see advanced ed as important, and 85% who say it’s extremely or very important.

But are parents willing to switch schools in order to access advanced education? The survey results suggest the answer is yes.

The majority of parents of gifted children (59%) say they would be extremely or very likely to change schools if advanced education was eliminated at their child’s school, and 79% would at least consider it.

Interestingly, roughly 4 in 10 parents of school-aged children (not just of gifted children) say that they would be extremely or very likely to move their child to a different school if their child’s school eliminated academically advanced classes. Factoring in parents who answered “somewhat likely,” 61% of school parents would consider switching schools if their current school removed options for advanced education.

These results suggest that even parents whose children do not currently receive advanced services value access to those services – and would consider moving their child to another school if that access were removed.

Let’s take this from a hypothetical question to the real world—let’s compare this to families who have actually changed schools. Among school switchers, 16% of school parents say that their child encountered a lack of advanced or gifted education options at their former school. When we narrow it down to parents of gifted children, a quarter (24%) say that advanced classes were not available at their former school.

Of course, lack of access to advanced courses is not the only reason for a school switch, which can be a major, difficult decision for any family that involves several factors. But the May survey data suggest that (a) most parents value access to advanced education in their children’s schools, (b) a majority of parents will consider switching schools if access is removed, and (c) a significant percentage of switching families list lack of access to advanced education as a reason for the change.

These results mirror findings from other studies, such as the growth of homeschooling among families with advanced students. Collectively, the emerging research in this area strongly suggests that access to advanced services is a major issue for parents, caregivers, and students, making this understudied topic a priority for future school choice research and policymaking.