WASHINGTON, D.C. – School choice is slowly making inroads across the nation, according to a new study from the left-of-center Brookings Institute.

While Brooking Institute scholars only examined 107 of the nation’s 13,800 school districts for their 2013 Education Choice and Competition Index, the findings serve as a kind of “thermometer of school choice in the nation,” according to lead author Grover “Russ” Whitehurst.

Of the districts Brookings scholars examined, only three of them earned an A, 40 districts earned a C, and 35 received F’s, according to Watchdog.org.

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Two of the school districts with an A rating are in New Orleans. That’s not too surprising, considering that Louisiana officials have used vouchers and charter schools to revitalize that city’s school system in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

New York City schools were the third “A” district on the Brooking Institute’s choice index.

But, as the New York Post notes, that rating is in serious jeopardy now that newly installed Mayor Bill de Blasio has taken office.

“De Blasio wants to end the (previous) administration’s policy of closing failing schools, and has proposed slowing the growth of charters by charging rent to some,” the Post reports.

The district with the biggest growth in school choice options for families is in Colorado’s Denver School District.

Watchdog.org reports, “That increase is due, in part, to a new common application. Instead of assigning students to schools based on their location, parents complete an application listing preferred schools –   traditional, charters, magnet – and school assignments are made based on the preferences.”

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Factors in determining a district’s overall rating included “the availability of alternative schools, (the) quality of district schools, how relevant and understandable performance data are and the mechanism for assigning students to schools,” Watchdog.org reports.

School choice advocates will probably view the Brookings Institute analysis with mixed feelings. While there have been some major gains in some high-need cities, too many American children are still forced to attend the school assigned to them, based on the zip code of their home address. That’s an antiquated and unacceptable practice which needs to be overhauled from coast to coast.