Welcome to the online version of the
38th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward
the Public Schools
http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k0609pol.htm
Rating of the Public Schools
Each year we ask the public to assess its schools using the familiar A to F
scale. This practice started in 1974 with a question asking respondents to
grade the schools in the local community. Grading of the nation's schools
was added in 1981, and, beginning in 1985, parents were asked to grade the
school their oldest child attends. Each question has been repeated every
year since it was first asked. (See Tables 2, 3, and 4.)
Findings. In this year's poll, 49% give the schools in the community an A
or a B. The percentage last year was 48%. The percentage of A's and B's
climbs to 56% for public school parents and to 64% when parents grade the
school their oldest child attends. The nation's schools continue to draw
the lowest grades, with just 21% of the public awarding them an A or a B.
Of course, the nation's schools must also be schools in someone's
"community" and schools someone's "oldest child attends."
Conclusion II. Public ratings of the local schools are near the top of
their 38-year range.
Conclusion III. The closer people get to the schools in the community, the
higher the grades they give them.
Conclusion IV. Policies at the state and federal levels that build on the
assumption that local schools have a high approval rating are likely to
gain public support.
Conclusion V. Gaining public support for school improvement will be more
likely if proposals are based on the schools in the community and not on
the nation's schools.
In stories reported about the public schools, declining public support for
the schools is taken almost as a given. The grades assigned the schools in
this poll since 1974 demonstrate clearly that such is not the case.
Findings:
* In 1974, 48% of the public gave schools in the community a grade of A or
B. In 2006, the percentage awarding local schools an A or a B is 49%.
* In 1994, 66% of parents gave the school their oldest child attends a
grade of A or B. This year's figure is 64%.
Conclusion VI. There has been no decline in public support for public
schools. Approval ratings remain high and remarkably stable.
Choice Through Vouchers
Vouchers that parents can use to send their children to private,
church-related, or
Conclusion VI. There has been no decline in public support for public
schools. Approval ratings remain high and remarkably stable.
Choice Through Vouchers
Vouchers that parents can use to send their children to private,
church-related, or public schools of their choice are an alternative that
first received public notice after a 1955 address by economist Milton
Friedman. He saw vouchers as a way of providing competition for the public
schools. However, vouchers remain controversial because they touch on the
line involving separation of church and state and because they are seen as
diverting money from the public schools. Since 1991, the PDK/Gallup polls
have approached this issue with a question that measures approval of the
voucher concept -- "allowing parents and students to choose a private
school to attend at public expense" -- without using the politically
charged word "vouchers." Table 5 provides this year's results. In
considering the results, it is useful to keep in mind that choice,
independent of a specific program, is popular with the public.
Findings. The percentage favoring vouchers dropped from 38% a year ago to
36% this year, while opposition grew from 57% to 60%. Support for vouchers
Findings. The percentage favoring vouchers dropped from 38% a year ago to
36% this year, while opposition grew from 57% to 60%. Support for vouchers
started at 24% in 1993, fluctuated up and down for years, and peaked at 46%
in 2002. It is now at the mid-Nineties level.
Conclusion VII. Support for vouchers is declining and stands in the mid-30%
range.
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You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Historical Reality SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
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.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
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USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote
"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"
That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.
It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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