This groundbreaking study finds that nearly all parents seek schools with a solid core curriculum in reading and math; an emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education; and the development in students of good study habits, strong critical thinking skills, and excellent verbal and written communication skills. But some parents also prefer specializations and emphases that are only possible in a system of school choice.

Pragmatists (36 percent of K–12 parents) assign high value to schools that, “offer vocational classes or job-related programs.”	Jeffersonians (24 percent) prefer a school that “emphasizes instruction in citizenship, democracy, and leadership.”
Test-Score Hawks (23 percent) look for a school that “has high test scores.”	Multiculturalists (22 percent) laud the student goal: “learns how to work with people from diverse backgrounds.”
Expressionists (15 percent) want a school that “emphasizes arts and music instruction.”	Strivers (12 percent) assign importance to their child being “accepted at a top-tier college.”

What Parents Want: Education Preferences and Trade-Offs uses market-research techniques by Harris Interactive to determine what school characteristics and student goals are most important to parents.