Over the past 18 months, the parents of an estimated 10.8 million students, or nearly one in five of the nation’s schoolchildren, did not get what they wanted from their child’s school. These families are not a monolith — they represent a diverse range of communities found across America, both in terms of race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. While some were more economically equipped to react, all have felt the disruptions of the pandemic in their daily lives.
Families’ preferences for their children’s education in the fall of 2020 looked very different from their preferences in any previous year. Some have found new options to meet their needs, some have disengaged from the system entirely and others will have to grapple with unresponsive systems and limited choices this fall. Together, they are The Overlooked.