Americans Question Federal Commitment to NCLB

Bipartisan Poll Finds Need for More Funding, Flexibility

Two years after the enactment of the "No Child Left Behind" Act (NCLB), Americans embrace the concept of accountability in public education, but they question whether the needed resources are being provided and believe the federal government is responsible for funding education at the levels promised when the law was enacted. 

Additionally, while Americans support the notion of testing students and do not shy away from the federal government's role in setting standards, they believe that changes are needed to NCLB that provide greater flexibility and broader measures of success.

The following are key findings from a national survey of 1,005 registered voters, conducted January 4-7, 2004, by Democratic pollster Al Quinlan of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and Republican pollster Ed Goeas of The Tarrance Group, Inc.

Education — An important budget priority and the vast majority want the federal government to spend more on education

While war, terrorism and the economy dominate the headlines, education and health care are the two domestic issues, along with the economy, that Americans are focused on. Education is the top issue, with 35 percent of registered voters citing education as one of their top two federal budget priorities, followed by health care (34 percent), the economy and jobs (34 percent), and terrorism/Iraq (22 percent security and terrorism, 11 percent military spending and Iraq). Taxes (8 percent) now stands near the bottom of the list. 

Additionally, 63 percent of voters believe the federal government should increase funding for public schools — a 6-point increase from a year ago — while only 7 percent support a decrease in federal education funding.  This desire for increased funding comes in spite of the fact that voters overestimate the proportion of the federal budget spent on education — the median percent estimated by the public is 10 percent, while in actuality only about 3 percent is spent on education.

Growing optimism about public schools

Voters' assessment of the public schools has improved over the last year.  One in 10 voters believes the public schools are in good shape (3-point increase since January 2003), 40 percent believe the schools have improved and need to continue to do so (9-point increase), while 24 percent feel the public schools are in bad shape but have started to improve, and 24 percent believe the public schools are in bad shape and not improving. For the first time in the four years that we have asked this question, a plurality of Americans leans towards the positive side. 

Desire for major federal role in education 

Americans believe that the federal government has an important role to play in public education. With the exception of designing curricula, which Americans view as a local prerogative, voters support an expansive federal role in many areas of public education.

• Funding.  By a 62-12 percent margin, voters would like to see the federal government play a larger role in funding public schools in general, and 60-16 percent in funding school renovations.

• Equity. Voters would like to see a larger federal role in reducing the funding differences between wealthy and poor school districts by a 57-19 percent margin.  Moreover, they support a larger federal role in providing incentives for teachers to work in inner-city and high-poverty schools, by 65-11 percent.

• Anti-discrimination. By 51-13 percent voters want a larger federal role in ensuring that there is no discrimination in federally funded education programs.

• Standards. When it comes to teacher standards, the public supports an increased federal role in setting the minimum qualifications teachers in public schools must meet, 51-21 percent. A lesser 42 percent plurality supports an increased federal role in establishing national tests that states must use to measure students, while 30 percent would like to see a smaller federal role, and 27 percent want to maintain the federal government's current role, which was expanded through NCLB. The public's support for an expansive federal role in education stops when it comes to curricula, as only 24 percent favor an increased federal role in deciding what is taught in public schools.

Support for goals of "No Child Left Behind," but concern about the impacts among those with most knowledge

There is still a great deal of uncertainty about the effects of "No Child Left Behind" after two years, as 42 percent have either not heard about the law or are unsure of its impacts. Another 37 percent of voters believe the law is having a positive impact, while 21 percent believe the impact has been negative. So far, familiarity has produced opposition, as those who have heard a lot about the law have mixed views with 45 percent saying NCLB has had a negative impact (26 percent very negative) and 42 percent positive (16 percent very positive).

• Education gap. More educated voters are less favorable about the impact of NCLB than those without a college degree. College-educated voters are nearly evenly split, with 33 percent believing the law is having a positive impact and 31 percent negative initially, while non-college voters believe NCLB will have a positive impact initially, 39-15 percent.

• Partisan divide. Very positive impressions of NCLB among Republicans mask ambivalence among Independents and Democrats. Republicans have positive impressions of NCLB by more than 4-to-1. But Independent voters are divided, 27-28 percent positive-negative and Democrats lean slightly towards believing the law will have a positive impact, 33-26 percent.

Broad support for testing and accountability, but some clear cautionary signs on how to proceed

After a description of the goals of the "No Child Left Behind" Act, 55 percent believe it will have a positive impact, while 37 percent believe the impact will be negative. However, there are some clear cautionary notes:

• Tests won't work without fully funding "No Child Left Behind." While voters support school accountability in principle, they believe the federal government should fully fund NCLB.  Fully, 81 percent of voters support a proposal to give schools more time to reach the NCLB standards before imposing penalties if the federal government fails to provide the schools with the funding promised in the law. Support for fully funding NCLB is broad, crossing racial, gender, regional and partisan lines.

• Flexibility over rigidity The public believes that school success should be assessed on a number of criteria, not a single standardized test.  Nearly 9-in-10 voters support a proposal to allow schools to evaluate student progress on a number of criteria in addition to the standardized test, including classroom performance and graduation rates. Moreover, voters want more flexibility in how different groups of students are evaluated. By 67-28 percent, voters agree that it is unfair to label a school as failing if the vast majority of students is doing well, but one group of students does not do as well. And by a 71-26 percent margin, voters agree that some kids should be given more time to pass the test for their grade because we cannot expect all kids to learn at the same rate, rejecting the argument that it is only fair to give all kids the same test. And 83 percent favor a proposal to allow schools to use a different standard for evaluating students with disabilities than for students in regular classrooms.

• Support schools and students that fail, don't penalize them. Voters support increased funding for schools that do not meet the federal testing standards, 60-38 percent, to help students in these schools improve, rejecting the idea that funding should be cut until the schools reach federal testing standards.  By 77-21 percent, the public supports the provision in NCLB requiring schools to provide tutoring for students not meeting the standards. But voters reject the requirement that schools failing to meet federal testing standards should be required to use funds to bus students to schools meeting the standards (30-68 percent) and reject the requirement to replace the principal and teachers if a school fails to meet the standards (33-65 percent).