Giving Compass' Take:

• A new report finds that school choice can be a positive force for education, as long as the choices are accessible, equitable, and high-quality. 

• How can funders help districts build a comprehensive school choice plan that meets these criteria? How do district-run autonomous charters compare to traditional charter school models? 

• Learn more about district-run autonomous charter schools. 

Creating a school choice system that provides all children with good options, rather than one that simply offers choice for choice’s sake, requires a focus on equity and access and creation of schools to meet all students’ needs, experts argue in a new report.

“The right choice does promote educational equity, particularly in promoting diversity and reducing racial isolation and segregation,” John Brittain, professor and acting dean of the law school at the University of the District of Columbia, said at an event in Washington on Thursday to discuss the report.

Policymakers should focus on how choice helps create “a system of schools that would ensure that all schools were worth choosing and all students were chosen by a high-quality school,” said Patrick Shields, one of the authors of the report, which was released by the Learning Policy Institute think tank.

Districts must be deliberate in creating options, ensuring they’re open to students in all neighborhoods and at all levels of ability, the authors wrote.

Read the full article about school choice by Carolyn Phenicie at The 74.