Evaluation of Safe Routes to School Programs: Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Parental Decision-Making

In the United States, walking and biking to school has declined as more parents choose to drive their kids to and from school (McDonald, 2007a). This shift from walking to driving has deprived many children of an opportunity for daily physical exercise, increased traffic congestion and decreased air quality near schools. Recent research shows that one in two children are currently driven to school even if they live within a mile of the school and that major factors influencing this preference for driving are parental attitudes, perceptions, and employment-related time constraints. Federally-funded Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs encourage walking…

In the United States, walking and biking to school has declined as more parents choose to drive their kids to and from school (McDonald, 2007a).  This shift from walking to driving has deprived many children of an opportunity for daily physical exercise, increased traffic congestion and decreased air quality near schools. Recent research shows that one in two children are currently driven to school even if they live within a mile of the school and that major factors influencing this preference for driving are parental attitudes, perceptions, and employment-related time constraints. 

Federally-funded Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs encourage walking and biking through encouragement, enforcement, and education programs, and infrastructure improvements, such as additional sidewalks and crosswalks. The federal funding also requires an evaluation component consisting of student hand-raising surveys and parent mail-in surveys. Unfortunately, the parent survey evaluation tool developed for the model federal SRTS program is too limited in scope and clarity to provide useful information and feedback to program managers. 

The primary objective of this project is to fill a research gap by gathering data about how parental attitudes and time constraints affect decisions about their child’s transportation mode to school.  Research has shown that three of four parents driving their child less than one mile to school cites convenience as a reason (McDonald & Aalborg, forthcoming).  This study will employ two methods of data collection from parents in Portland Public Schools:  focus groups and a stated preference survey.  The focus groups will provide information to better understand reasons for driving and identify policy solutions which address parents’ concerns. This will help inform program administrators about the elements of choice that may be affected by programs, such as Safe Routes to School, and which elements are outside the reach of such programs.

Analysis of revealed and stated preference surveys will be used to estimate effectiveness of SRTS interventions (especially the encouragement and education components).  This aspect of the study will provide valuable information to those who design and deliver Safe Routes to School programs.  Specifically, it will provide information on the effectiveness of existing program elements in changing parental choice about their child’s travel mode. At the same time, results from this study are expected to help program administrators re-design or add program elements that may help change parents’ attitudes and decisions to drive their children to school. 

A secondary objective of this study is to test two methods of program evaluation and information-gathering around Safe Routes to School that are not typically used in current program evaluations—stated preference surveys and focus groups - and evaluate their usefulness in data collection and evaluation of Safe Routes to School programs.

The data and outcomes will help improve SRTS programs and address acknowledged gaps in our understanding of how the various parental attitudes and perceptions affect their children’s travel mode to and from school.
Outcomes expected from this project include:
- Development, testing and analysis of effectiveness of survey and focus groups to gather information from parents about influences on travel mode choice for their children and the effectiveness of Safe Routes to School programs on their choice;
- Detailed data about parental attitudes, influences and constraints as they affect their choice of travel mode for their children’s trips to and from school; and
- Comparison of quality of data and response rate of web-based and traditional mail survey to parents.
- Identification of specific SRTS interventions likely to increase walking and biking.

References
1. McDonald NC. 2007.  Active transportation to school: Trends among U.S. schoolchildren, 1969-2001. American Journal of Preventive Medicine;32(6):509-516.

2. McDonald NC A Aalborg. Forthcoming.  Why parents drive children to school? Implications for Safe Routes to School Programs. Journal of the American Planning Association.