Public Schools Net Highest Approval in 41-year old PDK/Gallup Poll

It seems the folks who don't like public schools mostly consist of those who know the least about them.

Most Americans give their community’s public schools high marks, particularly if their children attend those schools, the 41st annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools has found. More than 50 percent of Americans gave their local schools either an A or B, which equaled the highest scores in the history of the poll. A record number—75 percent—gave the school attended by their oldest child an A or B.

A majority of American also support charter schools. Too bad they don't know what they are.

Whether the issue is expanding charter schools or implementing merit pay for teachers, Americans appear to agree with President Barack Obama’s plans for education reform, according to the 2009 annual PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools.

The President’s ambitious agenda includes higher standards and more funding for early learning settings, expanding charter schools, reshaping teacher pay to reward effective teachers, and introducing common standards that could lead to a national test administered by states.

The findings indicate that Americans continue to support annual testing of students in grades three through eight by a two-to-one margin, and they favor using a single national test rather than letting each state use its own. This opinion is held by Democrats and Republicans equally.

Two out of three Americans support charter schools, although many Americans are confused about whether charter schools are public schools and whether they can charge tuition, teach religion, or select their own students. During the last five years, Americans’ approval of charter schools has increased by 15 percent.

The poll, which is conducted annually by Phi Delta Kappa International (PDK) in conjunction with Gallup, asked Americans about using stimulus money to save teachers’ jobs, investing in early childhood education, and other public education issues. Specifically, 46 percent of Americans support the use of stimulus money earmarked for education to retain teachers slated to be laid off, and 81 percent of Americans favor making kindergarten compulsory.

The 2009 poll also reveals that almost three out of four Americans favor merit pay for teachers regardless of political affiliation. Student academic achievement, administrator evaluations, and advanced degrees are the three most favored criteria for awarding merit pay.

“The poll results appear to be a permission slip for the President’s education agenda," said William Bushaw, executive director of PDK International and co-director of the PDK/Gallup poll. “It provides a ringing endorsement for many of the Administration’s planned changes that will be taken up in Congress next year as lawmakers debate what to do with the No Child Left behind Act.”

Other Key Findings:

• NCLB Fatigue? Americans are also growing weary of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). In fact, support for NCLB, which was passed in 2002, continues to decline as almost half of Americans view it unfavorably and only one in four Americans believe that it has helped schools in their communities.

• Split Views on Teacher Tenure. American views are split on teacher tenure depending on how the question is phrased. They disapprove of teachers having a “lifetime contract” but agree that teachers should have a formal legal review before being terminated.

• Dropout Rate of Top Importance. Almost nine out of 10 Americans believe that the U.S. high school dropout rate is either the most important or one of the most important problems facing high schools today. Offering more interesting classes was the suggestion offered most when asked what could help reduce the dropout rate.

• Support for Required Kindergarten. Americans strongly endorse making either halfday or full-day kindergarten compulsory for all children. Five out of 10 Americans believe preschool programs should be housed in public schools, with parents even more supportive of that idea. This is a significant change from 18 years ago when Americans were evenly divided between public schools, parent’s workplace, and special preschool facilities. Almost six out of 10 Americans would be willing to pay more taxes to fund free preschool programs for children whose parents are unable to pay.

• Americans Well-Informed by Newspapers. Almost 75 percent of Americans say they are either well-informed or fairly well-informed about their schools, citing newspapers as their primary source of information about schools, despite the declines in the newspaper industry, and school employees as their secondary source.

• Support for Higher Teacher Salaries. Overall, Americans demonstrate a deep respect for public school teachers, stating that beginning teachers with a bachelor’s degree and teaching certificate should earn an average starting salary of approximately $43,000, a substantial increase over the current average starting salary of $35,300. Additionally, seven out of 10 would like a child of theirs to become a public school teacher, the highest favorable rating in three decades.

More from the 40th Gallup Poll of Public’s Attitudes Toward The Public Schools

• Lack of funding for schools tops the list of “biggest problems facing schools” for the sixth year in a row. After inadequate funding, their second largest concern is discipline.
• Parents don’t consider lack of discipline in schools as a problem at all and are more concerned with overcrowding.
• Americans support an increased use of federal funds to maintain local public schools.
• Fewer than 2 of 10 Americans believe the No Child Left Behind legislation should be continued without significant change.
• Americans are more supportive of school vouchers than they have been in recent years but are less favorable toward charter schools, ending a five-year trend of increased support for these alternative public schools. Republicans favor vouchers much more than do Democrats. However, Democrats and Republicans favor charter schools at about the same levels.
• Americans continue to view their community schools positively with 46% assigning grades of A and B. This is in contrast to how Americans view the nation’s schools, with only 22% of respondents giving the nation’s schools A’s and B’s.
• Parents’ perception of the school attended by their oldest child is very positive with 72% assigning grades of A and B, the highest recorded in 15 years.
• Americans believe the next president should turn to education leaders — not political or business leaders — in developing policies for public schools.

Chester E. Finn, Jr., Senior Fellow,Hoover Institution, Stanford University, President, ThomasB. Fordham Institute sees the results this way:

Ignoring the election-year stuff that journalists will surely focus on, I’m most struck by five revelations in these data:Though parents still give high marks to their own kids’schools, Americans plainly sense that not all is well with the nation’s K-12 system.

Hence, the middling-to-low grades for “public schools in the nation as a whole” and the widespread awareness that schools in other lands are doing better. The public is
receptive to, often eager for, a host of reforms that educators view with alarm and politicians with apprehension.

These include national academic standards, national teacher testing, differentiated pay, and both charterschools and vouchers.

People still know little about NCLB and are wary of its renewal, yet when it’s deconstructed into key elements such as standards and testing, most people like them fine and even want more of them!

The case has yet to be made with much of the public that schools should impart a broad, liberal arts curriculumto youngsters. I’m depressed to find a (slim) majority continuingto view it as a “good thing” if today’s press for stronger reading and math skills leads to de-emphasis on other subjects.

Americans say they trust state and local officials (and educators) more than Uncle Sam to make education decisions— but that doesn’t keep them from wanting
Washington to shoulder a larger share of school budgets! Maybe folks don’t believe the maxim that he who pays the piper calls the tune.

But Linda Darling-Hammond, rumored to be in line for a White House Ed policy job (should Obama be elected president) says,

The American public has some clear messages about education for our next president. Although parents feel more positive than ever about the schools their
own children attend — with 72% giving these schools an A or B grade — they
worry about other schools and believe there is a need for continuing improvement.

Most would like to see more common expectations for what students learn, more
opportunities for students to take college courses while they are in high school, and more financial aid for students to attend college — a critical issue as reduced access to college aid has collided with demands for a more educated workforce, and the U.S. has slipped from 1st in the world in college participation to 15th. The public also wants to see more common standards for teachers, as well as incentives such as career ladders to reward excellence in teaching.

While the public wants to see standards increase, most do not think the current No Child Left Behind Act is accomplishing the job. Only 16% of respondents would re-authorize NCLB without change. Two-thirds would either change it significantly or abandon it entirely.

While several answers suggest the public does not want to abandon testing, overwhelming majorities would like to see school progress measured by student
improvement rather than by a single score, as NCLB now requires, and 4 out of 5
think that examples of student work, teacher grades, or teacher observations are
the most accurate measures of students’ academic progress, rather than test
scores.

The next president’s challenge may be to build a broader vision of learning and performance while raising educational standards and greatly expanding opportunities to learn."