The 27th Phi Delta Kappan/Gallup Poll of the Public Attitudes Toward the Public Schools.

Abstract

The 1995 Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools, number 27 in the annual series, features in-depth exploration of a number of significant national education issues. Among these are the public's grading of its schools; its level of awareness of educational issues; participation by the federal, state, and local governments in policy and financial decisions involving local schools; public and nonpublic school choice; higher achievement standards for students; inclusion of special education students in regular classrooms; financial assistance for college attendance; school prayer; the biggest problems facing the schools; violence in the schools; and ways of dealing with disruptive students. A summary of the important findings follows: * People continue to rate the schools in their own communities much higher than they rate the nation's schools. And the closer people get to the schools, the higher the ratings. Almost two-thirds (65%) of public school parents assign a grade of A or B to the school their oldest child attends. * Lack of discipline and lack of financial support are viewed as the major problems facing the schools. Fighting/violence/gangs, tied for first in the list of problems a year ago, is now third, followed by the use of drugs. * People view lack of parental control and the breakdown of family life as the major causes of what they see as an increase in school violence. Interestingly, however, public opinion follows the same pattern with regard to violence in schools as it does with regard to grading the schools. The closer people are to the schools in question and the more contact they have with them, the less likely they are to view violence as a serious problem. * People do not generally believe that students who are guilty of disruptive behavior or violence in school should be expelled. Instead, a majority opts for transfer to separate facilities where students can be given special attention. * The poll results call into question the extent of public support for inclusion programs. The clear preference is for placing students with learning problems in special classrooms. * There continues to be strong public support for the introduction of higher academic standards into the public schools, something the public has favored for many years. Higher standards as a requirement for graduation are also favored - even if this means that fewer students would graduate. * The desire for a constitutional amendment permitting spoken prayer in the schools continues to be strong. The public is surprisingly ecumenical with regard to the nature of such prayer, believing that all religions should be accommodated. However, the strongest support is for a moment of silence to be used as each individual chooses. * Support for choice within the public schools is strong; however, choice whereby students attend private schools at public expense is opposed. Moreover, people believe that private schools that accept public funds should be subject to regulation by public authorities. * The public favors the kind of devolution of authority from federal to state to local governments that the Republican-controlled Congress is now trying to bring about - even if the transferring of authority means that less federal money would be available for local schools. * Americans place a high value on a college education, with most expressing the hope and the belief that their oldest child will attend college. However, a significant number are concerned about their ability to pay for that college education in light of increasing costs. * The public strongly supports government financial assistance for those with the ability but not the money to attend college. This assistance includes scholarships and grants, work-study programs, and low-interest loans. * The public is opposed to providing educational services at public expense for the children of illegal immigrants. …