In part two of our preschool diary, our Editorial Director offers up some ideas—based on very recent experience—to make the preschool application process less stressful for busy parents.

Applying to preschool can feel almost as intimidating as applying to college. Our Editorial Director documents the process of choosing a preschool for her own daughter.

School closures are painful—but they're sometimes unavoidable. What if there were a better way to approach to process?

A new study on housing vouchers reveals that one factor makes people more likely to take advantage of opportunity: help.

A new study finds that half of parents' emails about enrollment go unanswered. That's a problem.

Enrollment policies should level the playing field, not give another leg up to already-advantaged families.

The real problem is that there aren’t enough great school options for the children of New Orleans.

An enrollment system built for fairness and targeted support helped 87% of students from closing schools get one of their top three school choices.

This year, we provided school choice support to families from three closing schools. Navigator Ruben Johnson explains how it worked.

Our upgraded Guide to Catholic Schools in New Orleans includes an improved school finder tool and enhanced profiles for 80+ area schools.

Many students who depart closing schools end up in schools that are no better.

School choice is an important tool for families, but it’s not all they need—not even close.

We're providing school choice and enrollment support to families affected by the closure of Mahalia Jackson Elementary School. Navigator Rameisha Johnson, a Mahalia Jackson parent herself, explains how we hope to help. 

The truth is, making school choice work takes a lot of work. If you think you’ll see better results simply by setting parents free, get ready to be disappointed.

EdNavigator is a year old! To celebrate, we’re guest-blogging at Eduwonk all week, sharing observations and insights from our work helping New Orleans families give their kids a great education.

Clear information empowers families, and not everyone believes that’s a good thing.

A New Orleans mom reflects on her experience trying to get her daughter into selective enrollment schools: "I’m a licensed social worker, so I’m used to dealing with paperwork and complex bureaucracies — but applying to schools was a whole different challenge."

When families have the ability to choose schools, do they flock to higher-performing schools? We took a closer look at kindergarten enrollment data in New Orleans to find out.

States could do more to try to present a holistic picture of each school that keeps the focus on academic performance but gives families insight into other key dimensions of school quality as well.

Instead of asking parents if they want their school to remain open, we should ask them whether they would choose to stay if they had other options.  And give them real options.

Changing how school grades are calculated changes the overall picture of school performance -- and yields new insights about New Orleans' schools.

In an era when, “How likely are you to refer us to a friend?” is a common question, why don’t we see more school systems routinely asking parents (and students) about their interactions with schools?

Even in New Orleans, which is ten years into its all-choice era, this is still hard work for families, schools, and administrators. There’s a real difference between “increasing school choice” as an abstract policy position and making school choice work in practice.

As parents, we all dream of a beautiful future for our kids. From the day they’re born, we pour our energy into building those dreams – with countless bedtime stories, with tooth-brushing practice, with impromptu lessons on playing nice at the park, with coats and sneakers and Halloween costumes, and a thousand other things. We want to give them big blue skies.