tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776587.post708362539096248829..comments2023-11-03T04:00:24.785-04:00Comments on Kentucky School News and Commentary: School News from Around KentuckyRichard Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14586435007687942849noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776587.post-7726416310863071122009-08-29T18:47:41.201-04:002009-08-29T18:47:41.201-04:00Ha !
If one doesn't like the results I suppos...Ha !<br /><br />If one doesn't like the results I suppose its only natural to look for alternate explanations. I'd probably do the same thing.<br /><br />Yes, survey data is always suspect to some degree. And it's hardly surprising - or particularly informative - to learn that people like choice. Just look at the bread or shampoo shelves at your local grocery. So what? If that alone was compelling, then we should expect BIPPS to support a public option for health care, but wse all know that's not going to happen. <br /><br />But to assert that the Bluegrass Institute gets anywhere near the gold standard for surveying by using two different groups is a joke. The WKU survey BIPPS purchased a few years back was sophomoric. So to improve on it, BIPPS goes to the Friedman Foundation for an unbiased assessment? I can't believe that you even believe that one.<br /><br />The fact that Friedman generally does better work than BIPPS does not make them unbiased in the least.<br /><br />To its credit, the Gallup poll has neutrality and longevity on its side - something BIPPS could only dream of. For forty one years, a broad cross section of Americans, who don't have an axe to grind, have been telling Gallup that they like their own schools.<br /><br />Those most distant from the schools have consistently rated them lower.Richard Dayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14586435007687942849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776587.post-75619086741491176882009-08-27T10:26:48.451-04:002009-08-27T10:26:48.451-04:00Richard,
RE: Public Schools Net Highest Approval ...Richard,<br /><br />RE: Public Schools Net Highest Approval in 41-year old PDK/Gallup Poll<br /><br />I see a number of problems.<br /><br />First, you write, “It seems the folks who don't like public schools mostly consist of those who know the least about them.”<br /><br />This poll doesn’t provide the ammunition needed to make that claim.<br /><br />For example, your blog also says the poll found most of its respondents still rely on newspapers to tell them what is going on in the schools. That finding is telling on at least two points:<br /><br />Point 1) A recent Pew poll (http://people-press.org/report/479/internet-overtakes-newspapers-as-news-source) found the majority of people now get their news from the internet or television. That raises a question about possible bias in the PDK/Gallop poll’s sample. <br /><br />Issues about the PDK/Gallop poll have been raised by a number of organizations in recent years. Two examples: The Center for Education Reform (http://www.edreform.com/Archive/?Bad_Data_The_PDKGallup_Poll) and The New York Sun (http://www.nysun.com/editorials/vouching-for-vouchers/77784/).<br /><br />Keep in mind that Phi Delta Kappan is a teacher subscription supported journal. PDK/Gallop might not be immune to bias within the PDK readership that pays the bills. <br /><br />Or, maybe the Gallop samples are just too small, which would lead to the sort of instability noted in the Sun article above.<br /><br />Point 2) As you point out, newspaper coverage of what is happening in education has seriously declined recently as newsroom staff gets stripped down in response to hard economic times. <br /><br />You and I both know of great examples here such as the Felner case, the Erwin case, the total absence of any print media representatives at the KDE’s 2008 Assessment and Accountability Task Force meetings, etc., etc, where print media coverage has been wanting, or at least seriously lagged, Internet sources. The newspapers are not a terribly good source of school information these days.<br /><br />There is another interesting finding in the actual PDK summary you pasted into your blog. That concerns the fact that 2/3 of the respondents favor charter schools even though most are confused about what those schools actually are and do. That does not speak to a well-informed sample base, does it?<br /><br />So, I could submit that it might be more likely that people who still have no major concerns about public schools and rely mostly on newspapers for their information actually know the least about the schools. <br /><br />Or, returning to my first point, it may be that people who know the most about public schools have been under-sampled by the PDK/Gallop poll. <br /><br />I really don’t know the answers here, but I know a number of very knowledgeable people who would not answer the poll the way the majority of PDK/Gallop respondents did.<br /><br />And, I would submit, taking any one poll, ours, PDK/Gallop, yours, etc., as the final word on something so important might lead to some very misleading conclusions. That is why the Bluegrass Institute has already sponsored two different surveys on school choice in Kentucky from two different organizations. The fact that those surveys generally agree with the PDK/Gallop findings about charter schools, or at least some sort of school option for parents, does start to make a case that choice is popular with many.Richard Inneshttp://www.bluegrasspolicy-blog.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.com