Did COVID Affect Middle School Choice? Distance, Transportation and the Zoned School

September 19, 2025 | By Jeff Zabel, Samantha Trajkovski, Sarah Cordes, Amy Ellen Schwartz

COVID-19 negatively affected student performance and widened racial and socioeconomic disparities. School choice was seen as one way to reduce these gaps, but the pandemic may have limited families’ ability to travel, investigate, and attend schools outside their community.

This study examines middle school choices of 6th grade students in New York City before and after COVID. After schools reopened, students traveled slightly farther and enrolled in a wider variety of schools. Most school characteristics influenced choices in similar ways before and after the pandemic, with one key change: eligibility for school busing significantly increased the probability of enrollment at both zoned and choice/charter schools.