Public support still high for public schools

For 37 years the highly respected Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll has analyzed the public’s attitudes toward public schools, and this year’s results are as encouraging as ever to those of us who feel that public education is the cornerstone of a democratic society.

The following were among the respected poll’s major conclusions:

• Lack of financial support is solidly entrenched in the public mind as the major problem facing the nation’s public schools. Respondents provided this answer to an open-ended question, attracting twice the number of mentions of any other problem.

• The high level of support Americans give to schools in their own community is unchanged, and support for the public schools grows in direct proportion to the closeness of respondents to those schools.

• The public’s strong preference is for improvement that comes by reforming the current public schools rather than by finding an alternative system.

• The public opposes permitting parents and students to choose to attend private schools at public expense. The percentage in favor peaked at 46% in 2002 and has declined to 38%.

• A plurality of respondents support the idea of charter schools; however, strong majorities say that such schools should be accountable to the state in the same way as regular public schools and should not be created if doing so means less funding for regular public schools.

• The public is divided regarding the use of student scores on standardized tests for the purpose of evaluating teachers and principals

• The public believes that the current emphasis on standardized tests will lead teachers to “teach to the test” and does not regard this as a positive outcome.

• The public approaches consensus on the importance of closing the achievement gap (nearly 90%), attributes the gap to factors other than schooling (75%), believes parents and students have more to do with whether students learn than teachers (63%), but still believes that it is the responsibility of schools to close the gap (58%).

• Much of the public (59%) still considers itself uninformed regarding No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The poll drew the conclusion in 2003 that the public’s dissatisfaction with the strategies used in NCLB indicated that great familiarity with the act was unlikely to bring approval. Based on the findings in this year’s poll, that conclusion is even more valid today, according to the report’s authors.

• Regarding specific aspects that apply to NCLB the public seems very clear: 68% say a single test cannot give a fair picture; 80% say testing only English and math will not give a fair picture; 79% say they would prefer to have additional help given to their child in his or her own school rather than being able to transfer; 48% oppose the requirements of subgroup reports, saying that all children should be treated the same way; 68% say special education scores should not be included; 85% believe it would be better to base adequately yearly progress on improvement shown, not fixed goals; and 63% say goals should vary according to where a given group of students starts.

• The public is equally divided on whether a large number of school failures would reflect shortcomings of the schools or of the law (45% say the schools, 43% say the law).

• The public favors a curriculum that offers a wide variety of courses and would prefer to see their child active in extracurricular activities and earn average grades in school than earn “A” grades but not participate in activities.

These are among the extremely interesting findings of the report, which is considered the “pulse” of the public on the topic of public education each year. The results send a clear signal that the public believes in the institution of public education and that we have the capacity and responsibility to reform our schools from within. It also seems clear that the public is not interested in policies that divide, but rather in practices that get results.