Tag: Public Opinon

Public Supports Reform In K-12 , But Not Much In Postsecondary Education

Policy trends in k-12 have not been similar to those in postsecondary education.  Nor has public approval been similar between the two sectors. A 2010 national poll asked “What grade would you give the k-12 public schools nationally?  The results were 1% A, 17% B, 53% C, 20%D, 6% Fail, and 3% do not know. A different 2010 national  poll asked, “How good a job do your state’s four year colleges do in providing a high quality education”, and 72% said excellent or good. The answer was 67% for public 2 year colleges. These polls show the public blames public institutions for poor performance in k-12, but blames the students for low graduation rates in postsecondary education. (Phi Delta Kappan, 2010, AP 2010, Immerwahr, 2001,2004, 2007). When all the polling questions are reviewed the results suggest that k-12 is broken and someone needs to fix it. But the public believes postsecondary education is performing well, but needs to reduce its tuition increases.