Learning: Inside Scoop
Better Grades for Public Schools

The public gives high marks, weighs in on testing, funding, and achievement.

For the first time in the 33 years of the Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll, the majority of Americans give their local public schools high marks. And the more people interact with schools, they more they like them. Also, most people don't blame the public schools for the achievement gap between white and minority students??but do look to the schools to close the gap. These are among the findings in the 2001 survey.

How do people rate their public schools?
After taking a beating in the years that followed the Reagan administration's A Nation At Risk report and the torrent of criticism that followed it, the reputation of America's public schools is on the rise. In the 2001 Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll, 51 percent of Americans rated the schools in their community either A or B.

What's more, public school parents, who actually have experience with the schools, have a considerably higher opinion: 62 percent give them A or B. When asked to rate their oldest child's school, the number with a favorable impression jumps to 68 percent.

But asked about public schools in the nation as a whole, 51 percent of Americans give them a C. This pattern--a higher opinion of the schools you know than of schools you only hear about--is true year after year, say the pollsters.

While people think education in America needs to be improved, they are strongly and increasingly committed to doing it through public schools. A resounding 72 percent think we should work to improve the public school system we already have, rather than finding an alternative to that system. That's a 13 percent increase over the previous year.

This is consistent with the finding that 62 percent oppose publicly funded vouchers for private schools, a percentage that's up 12 points since 1998.

What school problems capture the public's attention?
Lack of funding and lack of discipline tie for first place among problems the public believes schools face, each garnering 15 percent. Almost 60 percent also recognize that funding differs "a great deal" or "quite a lot" from district to district, both nationally and within individual states. More than two-thirds see a close link between the amount of money spent and the quality of education.

That number jumps to almost three-quarters when respondents are public school parents.

When divided along party lines, 64 percent of Republicans and 72 percent of Democrats believe that the amount of funding strongly affects quality.

What's the public's attitude toward standardized testing?
Reaction is mixed. Sentiment is growing, the pollsters found, that there's too much emphasis on testing as a strategy for school improvement (31 percent of respondents said so in the 2001 poll, compared with 20 percent in 1997).

Two new poll questions sought opinions on using high-stakes tests to determine promotion and high school graduation.

Nationally, 53 percent favor linking promotion to a single test, while 57 percent feel the same about graduation. Despite the general nod to high-stakes tests, 66 percent think testing's real value lies in determining instructional needs. That opinion is especially strong among nonwhites (77 percent) and those between the ages of 18 and 29 (79 percent).

About 65 percent believe classroom work and homework are the best measures of academic achievement.

The reason for the majority support for high-stakes tests may be indicated by the answers to a question about student achievement: 81 percent feel most students are achieving only a small part of their potential.

Do all children have equal opportunity to learn?
Although 79 percent say yes, white and nonwhite respondents react differently to this question: 83 percent of whites say opportunities are the same, but only 57 percent of nonwhites agree. The 57 percent figure for nonwhites is up 19 percent since 1978.

What's the public's perception of the achievement gap?
Forty-eight percent of Americans think the academic achievement of white students is higher than that of Blacks or Hispanics.

Nonwhites express this view very strongly, with 61 percent saying whites achieve at higher levels.

Closing the gap is very important or somewhat important to 88 percent of Americans (59 percent of Republicans and 74 percent of Democrats say it's very important).

What are the causes of the gap, and who should fix it?
A whopping 73 percent believe the achievement gap is mostly related to factors other than the quality of schooling. But 55 percent of those polled say it's up to the public schools to close the gap.

Lowell Rose, co-author of the study, says people aren't being irrational when they expect the schools to solve a problem whose main causes are elsewhere, they're just being practical.

Says Rose, "If there's a problem that has to be solved, the only institution that can reach out to all kids is the public schools." And that holds true whether the problem is hunger, health care, or multiplication tables.

--Mary Anne Hess

For more: Visit www.pdkintl.org/kappan/kappan.htm.