GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ – Two recent Gallup polls show little change in the way Americans rate kindergarten through 12th grade schools. The public gives somewhat mediocre ratings to schools nationwide, but much higher ratings to their local schools. Gallup's annual Work and Education Poll finds that more Americans continue to be dissatisfied than satisfied with the quality of primary and secondary education in the United States, though parents of children in these grades are satisfied with the quality of education their own children receive. Similarly, the annual Gallup/Phi Delta Kappa Poll on education shows 48% of Americans giving their local schools an "A" or "B" grade, compared with just 26% who award this grade to national public schools.
The Work and Education Poll, conducted Aug. 4-6, finds that half of Americans say they are dissatisfied with the quality of current American K-12 education. This includes 16% who say they are completely dissatisfied. Forty-eight percent are satisfied, including 8% who are completely satisfied.
Opinions on this matter have been fairly stable in recent years, although ratings of the U.S. educational system have improved since 2000, when just 36% were satisfied and 61% were dissatisfied. Most key subgroups give higher ratings now than they did in 2000, although Democrats are one exception. This pattern is typical: Democrats have tended to rate conditions in a variety of areas more critically when a Republican occupies the White House and Republicans tend to be more critical when a Democrat is president.
As suggested above, the current data show variation by party -- 53% of Republicans are satisfied with education in the United States, compared with 41% of Democrats. Those residing in the West (39%) are significantly less likely to express satisfaction toward U.S. education than are those residing in the East (51%), Midwest (54%), and South (47%).
According to the poll, about one in three Americans (31%) have a child attending K-12 this year. Eighty-five percent will send their oldest child to a public school, 6% to a private school, 5% to a parochial school, and 3% will home school. By a 54% to 45% margin, parents of children in grades K-12 are more likely to say they are satisfied with the nation's educational system than Americans without school age children.
The Gallup/PDK Poll shows 26% of Americans giving an A or B grade to public schools nationally. The majority of Americans, 52%, give U.S. schools a C, 12% a grade of D, and 3% a failing grade. But as is often the case when asked to rate national vs. local conditions, Americans rate their local schools much more positively. Forty-eight percent give their local schools an A or B, nearly double the percentage who assign these grades to national schools. Thirty-one percent of Americans grade their local schools a C, 10% a D, and 5% give them an F.
Parents Gives High Marks to Their Children's Education
When asked about the quality of their oldest child's education, parents tend to be quite positive. In the Work and Education Poll, 77% say they are satisfied, including 38% who are completely satisfied. Only 21% are dissatisfied.
This represents an improvement from last year, when 68% were satisfied (29% completely so) and 27% dissatisfied. Parents' satisfaction with their childrens' education has generally been in the mid-70s since Gallup first asked this question in 1999.
Parents whose oldest child is in primary school (kindergarten through sixth grade) are much more likely to say they are completely satisfied with that child's education (50%) than are those whose child is in a higher grade (28%). This pattern has been evident in prior years, though not to quite the same degree as it has been in this year's data. The two groups' overall satisfaction level ratings (81% for K-6 and 74% for grades 7-12) are similar.
The Gallup/PDK Poll also finds most parents give very positive ratings to the school their oldest child attends. Sixty-eight percent of parents give their child's school an A or B grade, including 29% who rate it an A. Twenty percent of parents give their child's school a C, 8% a D, and just 4% an F.
Survey Methods
These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,003 adults, 18 years and older, conducted Aug. 4-6, 2003. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
For results based on the sample of 284 K-12 parents, the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 6 percentage points.
The Gallup/Phi Delta Kappa Poll is based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,011 adults, 18 years and older, conducted May 28-June 11, 2003. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
24. Overall, how satisfied are you with the quality of education students receive in kindergarten through grade twelve in the U.S. today -- would you say you are completely satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied or completely dissatisfied?
|
Completely satisfied |
Somewhat satisfied |
Somewhat dissatisfied |
Completely dissatisfied |
No |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
|
|
2003 Aug 4-6 |
8 |
40 |
34 |
16 |
2 |
|
2002 Aug 5-8 |
7 |
40 |
32 |
18 |
3 |
|
2001 Aug 16-19 |
10 |
38 |
32 |
17 |
3 |
|
2000 Aug 24-27 |
7 |
29 |
40 |
21 |
3 |
|
1999 Aug 24-26 |
8 |
39 |
38 |
13 |
2 |
In terms of your family,
D21. Do you have any children who will be attending school in kindergarten through grade 12 this year?
|
Yes |
No |
No opinion |
|
|
2003 Aug 4-6 |
31% |
69 |
-- |
25. Thinking about your oldest child in kindergarten through grade 12, what grade will he or she be entering this fall?
BASED ON 284 K-12 PARENTS
|
Kindergarten-Fifth |
|
|
No |
|
|
2003 Aug 4-6 |
40% |
18 |
42 |
-- |
|
2002 Aug 5-8 |
40% |
23 |
36 |
1 |
|
2001 Aug 16-19 |
38% |
20 |
41 |
1 |
|
1999 Aug 24-26 |
44% |
25 |
30 |
1 |
26. Will your oldest child attend public, private, parochial or home school this year?
BASED ON 284 K-12 PARENTS
|
|
|
|
Home School |
No |
||
|
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
||
|
2003 Aug 4-6 |
85 |
6 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8 |
89 |
7 |
2 |
2 |
* |
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19 |
88 |
5 |
5 |
2 |
0 |
|
|
2000 Aug 24-27 ^ |
86 |
9 |
4 |
1 |
* |
|
|
1999 Aug 24-26 ^ |
86 |
10 |
4 |
* |
0 |
|
|
^ |
WORDING: Will that child attend public, private or parochial school? |
|||||
27. How satisfied are you with the quality of education your oldest child is receiving? Would you say you are completely satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied or completely dissatisfied?
BASED ON 284 K-12 PARENTS
|
|
|
|
|
JUST STARTING SCHOOL (vol.) |
|
||
|
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
||
|
2003 Aug 4-6 |
|||||||
|
All parents |
38 |
39 |
13 |
8 |
2 |
* |
|
|
Public school parents ^ |
32 |
43 |
16 |
8 |
1 |
-- |
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8 |
29 |
39 |
20 |
7 |
4 |
1 |
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19 |
35 |
37 |
14 |
9 |
3 |
2 |
|
|
2000 Aug 24-27 |
31 |
47 |
12 |
6 |
4 |
* |
|
|
1999 Aug 24-26 |
37 |
46 |
12 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
|
|
^ |
BASED ON 242 PUBLIC SCHOOL PARENTS; MoE: ±7 PCT. PTS. |
||||||
* -- less than 0.5%
