The Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools

By Lowell C. Rose
Executive director emeritus of Phi Delta Kappa International, and
Alec M. Gallup
Co-chairman of the Gallup Organization, Princeton , N.J.

Copyright © 2006 Phi Delta Kappa International

This information is part of a larger report by Phi Delta Kappa International and the Gallup Organization entitled “The 38th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes toward the Public Schools.” The full report in both PDF and HTML formats is available from Phi Delta Kappa International:
The 38th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools

The following additional resources related to the PDK/Gallup Poll are also available:

• PowerPoint Slide Show of the Major Policy Implications of this Year's Findings
• Video Streams: Dr. Lowell C. Rose, PDK poll director, and Dr. William Bushaw
• Policy Implications of the 38th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll

Here are excerpts from the 38th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools:

Major Findings and Conclusions of the Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll

The major findings center on how people want improvement to come about, on the way the public assesses the public schools, and on how it views some of the strategies used in current change efforts. Everything else in this poll builds to the final section, which deals with the change strategy dominating K-12 education today, the implementation of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.

The following sections highlight a number of the poll findings:

Choice Through Charters

Although charter schools are public schools, many people do not think of them as such, because they operate outside the traditional K-12 structure. The two charter questions in this year's poll explore public support for the idea of charter schools and public understanding of the nature of such schools.

Findings. Public approval of charter schools has climbed from 42% in 2000 to 53% in 2006. This finding must be weighed against responses indicating that the concept is not clearly understood. Here are some comparisons:

• 39% of respondents say charter schools are public schools; 53% say they are not (fact: they are public schools).
• 50% say charters are free to teach religion; 34% say they are not (fact: they are not).
• 60% say charters can charge tuition; 29% say they cannot (fact: they cannot).
• 58% say charters can base student selection on ability; 29% say they cannot (fact: they cannot).

Conclusion. Those who would implement the charter school concept should ensure that the public has a clear understanding of the nature of such schools.

The Achievement Gap

The test referred to as the Nation's Report Card, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, shows blacks trailing whites in grade-8 reading by 30%, Hispanics trailing whites by 26%, and children from homes where students are eligible for free lunches trailing those whose lunches are not subsidized by 24%. The percentages are comparable for math. Five questions in this year's poll deal with this problem. The first three deal with the importance of closing the gap, the impact of high standards on the gap, and the responsibility for closing it.

Findings:

• Eighty-eight percent of respondents say that closing the achievement gap is either very important or somewhat important, and 81% believe the goal can be accomplished while maintaining high standards for all students.
• Although only 19% of respondents say that the gap is related to the quality of schooling, 57% say that it is the responsibility of the public schools to close the gap.

Conclusions:

• There is near consensus that closing the achievement gap is of great importance and that it is unnecessary to sacrifice high standards to do it.
• The public attributes the gap to factors other than the quality of schooling but still concludes that it is the responsibility of the schools to close it.

The final two questions about closing the achievement gap deal with using preschool programs to try to close the gap and the funding for such programs.

Findings - When the final two questions were originally asked in the 1992 poll they brought responses indicating that preschool programs for low-income children would help improve their school performance and that the public would be willing to pay more taxes to provide the programs. The responses in the current poll say the same, but the percentages have climbed:

• The percentage who say that such programs will help a great deal has gone from 39% to 49%, and the percentage who say a great deal or quite a lot has gone from 74% to 81%.
• The percentage of respondents willing to pay taxes to fund the programs has jumped dramatically, from 49% to 66%.

Conclusion:

• The public belief that preschool programs for children from poverty-level homes will help them to perform better in school when they are teens is apparently so strong that the public expresses a willingness to pay higher taxes to support such programs.

NCLB Questions

This poll began to track NCLB in 2003, one year after the law was signed. Twelve questions in this year's poll are focused on this topic. The first two are benchmark questions exploring how much the public knows about NCLB and, based on what it knows, whether it views the law favorably or unfavorably. The third question is a new one asking respondents to say whether NCLB is helping or hurting schools in the community. The next eight deal with the strategies used in implementing NCLB, and the final question asks how the public will react if a large number of schools fail to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). In addition to our usual categories of respondents, we have separated out the responses of those who say they know a great deal or fair amount about the law. This self-identified group consists of 504 respondents.

Findings:

• NCLB requires that test scores be broken out by race and ethnicity, English-speaking ability, and poverty level. A majority of respondents (54%) oppose this strategy, up 6% from 2005.
• The test scores of special education students are included in determining whether a school is in need of improvement. Nearly two-thirds of respondents (62%) say the scores of special education students should not be included. This percentage is unchanged since 2005.
• NCLB requires that nearly all special education students be tested against grade-level standards. Three-fourths of respondents (75%) believe these students should not be tested against the same standards as other students. This figure is up 7% since 2005.
• Four-fifths of respondents (81%) say the proper measure of performance is the improvement made by students during the school year. This figure is down 4% from last year.

Commentary

COMMENTARY: A Strong Message
This year's PDK/Gallup poll delivers a strong message about the importance of local communities and local governance. We continue to see that the closer the public is to its schools, the higher it rates them. Interestingly, we see that a majority of the public prefers that local school boards have the greatest influence over what is taught in the public schools. School boards need to set high academic goals for local schools that reflect state and national standards and that incorporate the needs and desires of their local communities.

Further, this year's poll shows the public's distaste for mayoral interference, as nearly 70% of respondents oppose having a mayor take over the public schools even as part of an effort to turn around low-performing schools. This public sentiment aligns beautifully with a recent policy adopted by the NSBA governing body that strongly opposes mayoral takeovers. Instead, mayors should work on other factors that affect academics, such as crime, housing costs, and health care.

The public continues to see funding as the biggest problem for public schools, and funding remains a concern for all of us as Congress backs away from its promise to fully fund programs that can make a difference for children who desperately need help.
-- Anne L. Bryant, executive director, National School Boards Association, Alexandria, Va.

COMMENTARY: Support for Local Schools Still Strong
Thomas Jefferson had a vision that democracy would survive only "with the general diffusion of knowledge." It is reassuring to know that the public still supports our public schools: 49% give the schools in their community a grade of A or B. Parents of children who attend public schools are even more supportive: 64% give the school their oldest child attends a grade of A or B. Concurrently, support for vouchers has declined.

Our schools reflect conditions in the general society, say 70% of the poll respondents. Only 22% attribute the problems facing public education to the performance of schools rather than to societal problems. Further, a majority of respondents favor decision making at the local level. There seems to be little understanding of or support for No Child Left Behind.

The democratic ideal of equal opportunity is also supported by poll results. The public believes that the achievement gap between whites and minorities can and should be narrowed and that it should be done by schools. The public also supports adequate funding and school-based reform of public education.

Despite extensive criticism of public schools in general, support for public education at the local level continues to remain strong. Jefferson would be pleased to know these poll results. So is the Public Education Support Group.
-- M. Donald Thomas, executive director, Public Education Support Group, Salt Lake City, Utah

COMMENTARY: Americans Want Something Different
Peeking through the pro-establishment phrasing of these survey questions are millions of Americans who want something very different from what the current public school system is delivering. Not just higher standards, more course requirements, and testing as a precondition for graduation, but also lots more options. More than half of those surveyed favor charter schools, for example, and nearly two in five endorse vouchers (despite a hostile question about them). One in four would welcome an "alternative to the existing public school system." And all of this despite the fact that about one-third of U.S. school kids already attend something other than their district-operated neighborhood schools and the families of many millions more exercised choice by moving into their neighborhood on account of its schools.

Sure, these data also reveal lots of complacent folks -- perhaps unaware that their kids' jobs could be outsourced to Bangalore or Beijing -- and plenty who have been swayed by constructivist slogans (e.g., "teaching to the test" is evil). But anybody who spins these survey results as showing a nation that's content with its present education arrangements is guilty of self-deception.
-- Chester E. Finn, Jr., senior fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and president, Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, Washington, D.C.