Education (3)

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Education (p. 3)

Data are from nationwide surveys of Americans 18 & older, except where noted.

Priorities for School

Shell Oil Company Shell Poll conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates (D). July 17-20, 1998. N=1,123 adults nationwide.
			.
"From what you know, to which one or two of the following goals are schools giving the most priority today? [See items below.] *"Now I'm going to read you the same list of goals and this time please tell me to which one or two of these goals you think schools should* give the most priority today.** [See items below.]"
			.
		Up to two responses accepted
		Are Giving Priority	Should Give Priority
		%	%
	"Preparing students for college"	38	28
	"Providing vocational skills that prepare students for employment"	28	29
	"Teaching students how to reason and think well"	13	36
	"Teaching students basic values, such as honesty and respect for others"	10	37
	"Teaching students about government and their civic responsibilities"	9	11
	None/Other (vol.)	14	1
	All (vol.)	4	6
	Not sure	8	1

Problems Facing Schools

Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll. June 5-26, 2002. N=1,000 adults nationwide. MoE ą 3.
				.
"What do you think are the biggest problems with which the public schools of your community must deal?"
		Top Responses
		ALL	Public School Parents
		%	%
	Lack of financial support/Funding/Money	23	23
	Lack of discipline/More control	17	13
	Overcrowded schools	17	23
	Use of drugs/Dope	13	11
	Fighting/Violence/Gangs	9	9
	Difficulty getting good teachers/Quality teachers	8	8

CBS News Poll. April 22, 1999. N=450 adults nationwide.
					.
"What do you think is the biggest problem in schools today?"
		4/22/99			4/13-14/99
		ALL	Parents	Non- Parents	ALL
		%	%	%	%
	Discipline/Lack of discipline	25	20	29	21
	Violence	14	19	9	5
	Lack of parental involvement	12	7	15	7
	Teachers	10	14	7	15
	Quality of education	8	7	8	17
	Weapons/Guns/Knives	8	10	7	1
	Drugs	3	3	4	11
	Overcrowding	3	4	2	3
	Gangs	1	1	1	1
	Peer pressure	1	1	0	1
	Other	5	7	7	10
	Don't know/No answer	10	7	11	8

Social Promotion

Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll. May 18-June 11, 1999. N=1,103 adults nationwide.
				.
"Social promotion means moving children from grade to grade in order to keep them with others in their own age group. Would you favor stricter standards for social promotion in school even if it meant that significantly more students would be held back?"
		ALL	Public School Parents
		%	%
	Favor	72	75
	Oppose	26	24
	Don't know	2	1

Standards

Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll. May 18-June 11, 1999. N=1,103 adults nationwide.
				.
"In your opinion, are student achievement standards in the public schools in your community too high, about right, or too low?"
		ALL	Public School Parents
		%	%
	Too high	6	9
	About right	57	60
	Too low	33	30
	Don't know	4	1

Students

Associated Press-Ipsos poll conducted by Ipsos-Public Affairs. April 16-18, 2004. N=1,000 adults nationwide. MoE ą 3.1.
						.
"As you may know, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court's ruling that required schools to be integrated -- that is, that black and white children must be brought together into the same schools. How good a job do you think public schools are doing of serving all children equally, regardless of race . . . ?"
						.
		Excellent Job	Good Job	Not-So- Good Job	Poor Job	Not Sure
		%	%	%	%	%
	4/04	14	52	20	12	2
						.
"Do you feel that school integration has improved the quality of education received by black students, or not?"
						.
		Has	Has Not	Not Sure
		%	%	%
	4/04	72	25	3
						.
"Do you feel that school integration has improved the quality of education received by white students, or not?"
						.
		Has	Has Not	Not Sure
		%	%	%
	4/04	50	45	5
						.
"In public schools today, how much opportunity do black students have for success: more opportunity than white students, about the same opportunity as white students, or less opportunity than white students?"
						.
		More	About the Same	Less	Not Sure
		%	%	%	%
	4/04	15	65	18	2
						.
"In public schools today, how much opportunity do Hispanic students have for success: more opportunity than white students who are not Hispanic, about the same opportunity as white students who are not Hispanic, or less opportunity than white students who are not Hispanic?"
						.
		More	About the Same	Less	Not Sure
		%	%	%	%
	4/04	11	62	25	2
						.
"In your view, which of the following is better? Letting students go to the local school in their community, even if it means that most of the students would be the same race. Transferring students to other schools to create more integration, even if it means that some students would have to travel out of their communities to go to school."
						.
		Local Schools	Other Schools	Not Sure
		%	%	%
	4/04	78	19	3
						.
"Whether you have a child in school right now or not, in general, which type of school would you prefer for your child: one where the students are mostly of the same race as your child; one where the students are mostly mixed, with children from black, white, Hispanic, and other racial and ethnic groups; or one where the students are mostly of a different race as your child?"
						.
		Mostly Same	Mostly Mixed	Mostly Different	Not Sure
		%	%	%	%
	4/04	12	83	2	3

Teachers

Gallup Poll. Aug. 24-26, 1999. N=540 adults nationwide. MoE ą 5.
			.
"Thinking about public school in kindergarten through grade 12, do you think salaries for public school teachers in your community are too high, too low or just about right?"
		%
	Too high	7
	Too low	56
	About right	35
	No opinion	2

*Democratic Leadership Council Blueprint* Poll** conducted by Penn Schoen & Berland Associates. June 17-20, 1999. N=502 adults nationwide. MoE ą 4.4 (total sample).
						.
		ALL	Demo- crats	Repub- licans	Indepen- dents
		%	%	%	%
"Paying teachers not based on seniority, but based on the value that they bring to the classrooms, as measured by improvements in their students' test scores. Do you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose this proposal?"
	Strongly support	66	60	65	73
	Somewhat support	18	19	14	19
	Somewhat oppose	8	4	14	5
	Strongly oppose	6	14	5	2
	Don't know	2	3	2	1
						.
"Offer alternative teacher certification, based on a teacher's abilities rather than their degrees or credentials. Do you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose this proposal?"
	Strongly support	47	48	57	41
	Somewhat support	33	25	30	40
	Somewhat oppose	11	13	7	12
	Strongly oppose	6	7	3	6
	Don't know	4	6	4	-
						.
"Empowering schools to remove low-performing teachers fairly but easily. Do you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose this proposal?"
	Strongly support	65	70	65	63
	Somewhat support	27	20	30	29
	Somewhat oppose	3	4	2	4
	Strongly oppose	3	3	1	4
	Don't know	2	4	2	0
						.
"Establishing a national teacher corps, through which people would spend four years as public school teachers in disadvantaged school districts, in exchange for college tuition. Do you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose this proposal?"
	Strongly support	39	47	25	40
	Somewhat support	38	29	53	38
	Somewhat oppose	11	13	10	12
	Strongly oppose	7	10	5	6
	Don't know	4	1	7	4
						.
"Testing all teachers periodically to make sure they are competent and qualified to teach. Do you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose this proposal?"
	Strongly support	83	83	85	82
	Somewhat support	11	7	11	14
	Somewhat oppose	2	2	3	2
	Strongly oppose	2	5	1	1
	Don't know	1	4	0	1
						.
"Do you think that the quality of our teachers is a problem in the public schools, or not?"
	Yes	60	55	64	63
	No	34	39	31	34
	Don't know	6	7	5	4
						.
"Do you think that schools should have the ability to remove low performing teachers, or not?"
	Yes	95	93	97	95
	No	5	6	3	4
	Don't know	1	1	-	1

U.S. vs. Foreign Schools

Shell Oil Company Shell Poll conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates (D). July 17-20, 1998. N=1,123 adults nationwide.
			.
"Where do you think that American public schools rank when compared with schools in the other advanced industrial countries of the world? Are U.S. schools among the best, above average, average, below average, or among the worst?"
		%
	Among the best	5
	Above average	14
	Average	37
	Below average	31
	Among the worst	7
	Not sure	6

Violence

Gallup Poll. Aug. 13-16, 2007. N=277 parents nationwide with children in grades K-12. MoE ą 7.
					.
"Thinking about your oldest child, when he or she is at school, do you fear for his or her physical safety?"
					.
		Yes	No	Unsure
		%	%	%
	8/13-16/07	24	76	-
	10/6-8/06	35	65	-
	8/7-10/06	25	75	-
	3/9-11/01	45	54	1
	8/00	26	74	0
	4/00	43	57	0
	8/99	47	53	-
	5/99	52	47	1
	4/26-27/99	49	51	-
	4/21/99	55	45	0
	6/98	37	62	1
					.
"Have any of your school-aged children expressed any worry or concern about feeling unsafe at their school when they go back to school this fall?"
					.
		Yes	No	Unsure
		%	%	%
	8/13-16/07	12	87	1
	10/6-8/06	12	88	-
	8/7-10/06	11	87	2

*Gallup/CNN/USA Today* Poll**. March 9-11, 2001. N=1,015 adults nationwide. MoE ą 3.
			.
"Thinking about the recent shootings at schools: In your opinion, how likely is it that these kinds of shootings could happen in your community? Is it very likely, somewhat likely, somewhat unlikely, or very unlikely?"
			.
		%
	Very likely	31
	Somewhat likely	34
	Somewhat unlikely	20
	Very unlikely	13
	Unsure	2

CBS News Poll. April 15-17, 2000. N=1,150 adults nationwide. MoE ą 3.
				.
"In general, do you feel the schools in your community are extremely safe, very safe, somewhat safe, not too safe, or not at all safe?"
		%
	Extremely safe	8
	Very safe	29
	Somewhat safe	46
	Not too safe	10
	Not at all safe	5
	Don't know	2
				.
"On April 20th of last year, some high school students in Littleton, Colorado, attacked and killed some of their classmates, using guns, pipe bombs and other explosives. What do you think is the main reason why this event happened?"
			%
	Parents didn’t pay attention		40
	Kids exposed to TV violence		8
	Availability of guns		7
	Lack of school attention		7
	Kids' psychological problems		6
	Lack of religion/moral values		5
	Kids were frustrated		5
	Lack of discipline		3
	Peer pressure		2
	Other		7
	Don't know		10
				.
"Which of these statements is closer to your own opinion about what will happen? (A) In the next year or so there will be more shootings by students like the one in Colorado. OR, (B) The Colorado school shooting was a random act and is not likely to be repeated anywhere else in the near future."
			%
	There will be more shootings		72
	It's not likely to be repeated		22
	Don't know		6
				.
"Do you think we've learned from tragedies like the Colorado high school shooting and can prevent similar things from happening in the future, or not?"
		%
	Can prevent	56
	Cannot prevent	37
	Don't know	7

*Gallup/CNN/USA Today* Poll**. April 7-9, 2000. N=1,006 adults nationwide. MoE ą 3 (total sample).
				.
"As you may know, it has been nearly one year since the shooting at Columbine High School, the Littleton, Colorado, school where two students killed 12 of their classmates and one teacher. In your opinion, how likely is it that these kinds of shootings could happen in your community? Is it very likely, somewhat likely, somewhat unlikely, or very unlikely?"
		%
	Very likely	30
	Somewhat likely	36
	Somewhat unlikely	18
	Very unlikely	13
	No opinion	3
				.
"Which of the following statements comes closer to your overall view? [rotate] Government and society can take action that will be effective in preventing shootings like the one in Colorado from happening again. OR, Shootings like the one in Colorado will happen again regardless of what action is taken by government and society."
			%
	Action can be effective		47
	Shootings will happen regardless		49
	No opinion		4
				.
Asked of people with children in grades K-12 (N=291; MoE +/- 6): "Specifically as a result of the shooting at Columbine, would you say you feel [rotate] much more concerned about your child’s safety today than you did before, or somewhat more concerned, or about the same, or somewhat less concerned, or much less concerned about your child’s safety today than you did before?"
			%
	Much more concerned		40
	Somewhat more concerned		30
	About the same		28
	Somewhat less concerned		1
	Much less concerned		1
				.
Asked of people with children in grades K-12 (N=291; MoE +/- 6): "Thinking about the school or schools your children attend, would you say your schools have gone too far, have not gone far enough, or are doing the right amount to prevent acts of school violence from occurring?"
		%
	Too far	4
	Not far enough	28
	Right amount	68

Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll. May 18-June 11, 1999. N=1,103 adults nationwide.
				.
"Thinking about the public schools in your community, how would you describe the learning environment for students in those schools: very safe and orderly, somewhat safe and orderly, not very safe and orderly, or not at all safe and orderly?"
		ALL	Public School Parents
		%	%
	Very	24	30
	Somewhat	62	62
	Not very	7	5
	Not at all	3	2
	Don't know	4	1

Associated Press Poll conducted by ICR. April 28-May 2, 1999. N=1,006 adults nationwide.
			.
"Which one of the following measures do you think would be the most effective way to stop violence in schools? . . ."
		%
	"Reducing violence in TV shows and movies"	27
	"Putting metal-detectors in schools"	23
	"Increasing counseling for teens"	21
	"Passing stricter gun laws"	10
	"Restricting Internet content"	9
	None of the above	7
	Don't know	4
			.
"Thinking about the shootings last week at a Colorado high school, please tell me which one of these do you think is most to blame. . . ."
		%
	"The boys' parents"	39
	"Availability of guns"	24
	"Television and movies"	14
	"The Internet"	8
	"School officials"	4
	None of the above	6
	Don't know	4

Newsweek Poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates. April 29-30, 1999. N=751 adults nationwide, including 162 parents of children ages 12-18.
						.
"As a result of the violence in Littleton, Colorado, how important do you think it is for this country to do each of the following? As a result of the violence in Littleton, how important is it for this country to [see below]: very important, somewhat important, not too important, or not at all important?"
		Very	Some- what	Not Too	Not At All	Don't Know
		%	%	%	%	%
	"Pay more attention to teenagers and their problems"
	ALL	89	9	-	1	1
	Parents	90	8	1	1	-
						.
	"Pass stricter gun control laws"
	ALL	64	14	9	11	2
	Parents	67	13	6	12	2
						.
	"Reduce violence in the media"
	ALL	61	24	8	5	2
	Parents	69	20	6	4	1
						.
		ALL	Parents
		%	%
"Based on what you know about the teens responsible for the violence in Littleton, are there any teens now attending your own local schools that you suspect might be capable of armed violence?"
	Yes	28	34
	No	40	46
	Don't know	32	20
						.
"Do you think most parents, only some parents, or very few parents are able to tell whether their own teenage children are capable of committing a crime?"
	Most	21	22
	Only some	37	42
	Very few	38	34
	Don't know	4	2
						.
"Do you think most parents, only some parents, or very few parents really know what their teens are up to?"
	Most	13	15
	Only some	38	33
	Very few	47	51
	Don't know	2	1
						.
"Do you think there are some teens who are such trouble that even parents who give them enough attention can't control them?"
	Yes	86	85
	No	11	11
	Don't know	3	4

The Gallup Poll. April 26-27, 1999. N=1,073 adults nationwide.
			.
This question asked of people with children in grades K-12: "As far as you know, have you heard of any students at your child's school making copycat threats to do things similar to what happened in Littleton, Colorado, or not?"
		%
	Have heard	11
	Have not	89
			.
"In your opinion, do you think criminal charges should or should not be filed against the parents of the students involved in the Littleton deaths -- or are you unsure?"
		%
	Should be	25
	Should not be	26
	Unsure	48
	No opinion	1
			.
"From what you have seen, heard, or read about, please tell me whether you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the way in which the news media is covering the Littleton situation?"
		%
	Favorable	55
	Unfavorable	40
	No opinion	5

*ABC News/Washington Post* Poll**. April 22-25, 1999. N=500 high school teenagers and 522 parents of high school teenagers nationwide.
				.
		Students	Parents
		%	%
"In your opinion, is violence at your high school* a very serious problem, somewhat serious, not too serious or not much of a problem at all?" Wording for parents: "your child's high school"
	Very serious	5	4
	Somewhat serious	18	19
	Not too serious	29	31
	Not much of a problem	49	46
	No opinion	0	1
				.
"Would you say you personally feel very safe from violence at your school, somewhat safe, somewhat unsafe, or very unsafe?"
	Very safe	42	27
	Somewhat safe	47	55
	Somewhat unsafe	9	14
	Very unsafe	2	3
	No opinion	-	1
				.
"How would you rate the security precautions that your school has in place to try to prevent violence there? Would you say the security at your school is excellent, good, not so good or poor?"
	Excellent	12	9
	Good	59	52
	Not so good	19	22
	Poor	10	13
	No opinion	-	4
				.
"Do you think your school is doing enough to try to prevent violence there, or should it be doing more?"
	Is doing enough	57	45
	Should be doing more	42	50
	No opinion	1	5
				.
"As you may know, two students shot and killed several people at a high school in Littleton, Colorado, this week. What's the chance this kind of thing could happen at your school? Would you say it's very likely, somewhat likely, somewhat unlikely, or very unlikely?"
	Very likely	9	11
	Somewhat likely	31	37
	Somewhat unlikely	29	27
	Very unlikely	29	21
	No opinion	2	4
				.
"Can you think of any students at your own school who you think might be troubled enough to do something like this?"
	Yes	40	23
	No	59	68
	No opinion	2	9
				.
"At your school is there any group of students who hang out together and who seem to be especially troubled, anti-social and perhaps prone to violence?"
	Yes	40	24
	No	58	62
	No opinion	1	13
				.
"Do you personally know any students who have ever brought a gun to your school, or not?"
	Yes	20	13
	No	79	83
	No opinion	1	3
				.
	Students who answered "Yes" to preceding question: "Did you report it to a teacher or some other adult, or not?"
	Did report it	16
	Did not	83
	No opinion	1
				.
"Have you ever heard a student at your school threaten to kill someone, or not?"
	Yes	32
	No	67
	No opinion	1
				.
"Has anyone at your high school ever threatened to kill you, or not?"
	Yes	5
	No	95
				.
"At your school, do you often feel like an outcast, or not?"
	Yes	7
	No	92
				.
"Are there any students in your school who you would consider to be neo-Nazis or skinheads, or not?"
	Yes	21	13
	No	77	72
	No opinion	2	15

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