Americans Strongly Behind Mandatory School Testing

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- Senate and House lawmakers are meeting this week to work out differences in the education bills passed by both houses last spring. President George W. Bush had wanted an education bill to be passed before the August recess, but Congressional leaders indicate that it will probably be September before a bill is ready for the presidential signature. Where does the American public stand on education? Here is an updated review of some of the major issues in educational policy from the public's perspective, based on Gallup polling on the issue during the past year.

Education was a major part of President Bush's campaign last year and a major emphasis so far this year in his new administration. What type of grades is the public giving him on this issue?

Americans gave Bush higher approval ratings on his handling of education in a July 10-11 poll than they did for any other dimension or issue tested. Sixty-three percent approved of his handling of education, while 25% disapproved. Those relatively high marks are essentially unchanged from polling conducted earlier in the Bush administration.

BUSH JOB APPROVAL SUMMARY TABLE

 

2001 Jul 10-11 (sorted by "approve")	Approve	Disapprove
	%	%
Overall Job Approval	57	35
Education	63	25
Taxes	60	33
The economy	54	36
Foreign affairs	54	33
Prescription drugs for older Americans	52	28
Patient's bill of rights	51	28
Social Security	49	35
The environment	46	42
Government support for faith-based organizations	46	32
Energy	45	44
Campaign finance	37	40

"Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling education?" -- Trend

 

	Approve %	Disapprove %	No opinion %
2001 Jul 10-11	63	25	12
2001 Apr 20-22 ^	62	28	10
2001 Mar 9-11	65	22	13

The new education bill is expected to require public schools to administer annual student performance tests. How do Americans feel about the idea of mandatory standardized tests?

For several decades -- in Gallup polls, Gallup surveys conducted for the international educational association Phi Delta Kappa, and in polls conducted by other survey organizations -- the public has, by large percentages, backed the use of standardized national achievement testing for measuring both student academic progress and for grade promotion, including high school graduation.

Here are the results of a question asked in a Gallup poll earlier this year.

Should public school students be required to pass a standardized test in order to be promoted to the next grade, or not?

 

	Yes, should be	No, should not	No opinion
2001 Jan 5-7	77%	20	3

A recent question on the same topic included in a CBS News/New York Times survey, conducted June 14-20, found similar results. The question read, "do you favor or oppose mandatory testing of students in public schools each year as a way to determine how well the school is doing educating students?" Seventy-four percent said they favored it, while just 23% said they were opposed.

Still, even though Americans appear to approve of the concept of mandatory testing, are they convinced that mandatory testing is the single best answer to improving public education?

Despite their general endorsement of the concept of mandatory standard testing in school districts nationwide, Americans don't necessarily think that it is the only -- or even the best -- way to improve the quality of education in the United States. In a January 2001 Gallup poll, for example, Americans felt that paying teachers more would be the most important way to improve public education. Providing more money for local school systems to use as they see fit essentially tied for second place with the idea of standardized tests "to hold schools accountable."

When Gallup asked Americans in an open-ended question last year to name the federal government action they thought "would be most effective in helping to improve public schools in the United States today," very few mentioned mandatory testing. The most prevalent answer was providing more money, followed by increasing teacher standards (rather than testing students) and raising teacher pay.

And, at the same time, Americans appear to have other reservations about achievement testing, particularly about the amount of testing in their local schools.

For example, the public is divided over whether, on an overall basis, there is too much or too little achievement testing in the local schools. Forty-three percent say there is about the right amount, and the remainder is roughly split between those who think there is too much and those who feel there is too little testing.

Americans, by a 68% to 26% margin, also believe that examples of public school students' work offer a better way to measure their academic achievement than do their scores on standardized local and state achievement tests.

Now, here are some questions about testing. In your opinion, is there too much emphasis on achievement testing in the public schools in your community, not enough emphasis on testing, or about the right amount?

Gallup/Phi Delta Kappa Education Surveys
	National totals		No children in school		Public school parents
	2000	1997	2000	1997	2000	1997
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Too much emphasis	30	20	28	20	34	19
Not enough emphasis	23	28	26	28	19	26
About the right amount	43	48	41	46	46	54
Don't know	4	4	5	6	1	1

Is education a high priority for Americans?

Yes, almost all polling Gallup has conducted during the past year has underscored the importance Americans place on public education; it consistently ranks as one of the most important issues the people want Congress and the president to address. Education is also near the top of lists of the most important problems facing the country today.

In a Gallup poll conducted June 8-10, 2001, 61% of Americans said it is "extremely important" that Congress and the president address education in the next year -- the highest percentage of any issue tested. Gallup polling in May 2001 asked the public to rate the priority it attached to a list of six items for the Bush administration, and nine out of 10 said education should be a top or high priority, ranking it above military security and "keeping America prosperous."

ISSUE SALIENCE SUMMARY TABLE

 

2001 Jun 8-10 (sorted by "extremely important")	Extremely important	Extremely/very important
	%	%
Education	61	93
Prescription drugs for older Americans	49	85
Increased energy conservation	42	79
A patient's bill of rights	40	77
Increased oil and gas production	35	70
Price caps on electricity	34	65
Raising the minimum wage	31	63
Missile defense	25	54
Campaign finance	18	40

We have included below the trend line showing how Americans have responded this year to the question asking about the most important problem facing the country today. Education consistently appears as one of the top categories mentioned by Americans:

What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today? [Open-ended]

		Jul 19-22, 2001 %	Jun 11-17, 2001 %	May 10-14, 2001 %	Apr 6-8, 2001 %	Mar 5-7, 2001 %	Jan 10-14, 2001 %	Apr 3-9, 2000 %
	ECONOMIC PROBLEMS (NET)	31	26	31	33	29	22	--
1	Economy in general	14	10	10	15	10	7	4
2	Unemployment/jobs	6	4	6	6	4	4	2
3	Taxes	4	4	4	4	7	5	3
	NON-ECONOMIC PROBLEMS (NET)	71	75	68	69	76	77	--
1	Education	10	12	9	10	16	12	11
2	Crime/violence	9	9	7	6	8	9	12
3	Ethics/moral/religious/family decline; dishonesty; lack of integrity	9	9	8	9	11	13	7
4	Poor healthcare/ hospitals; high cost of healthcare	7	6	4	5	7	7	6
5	Drugs	6	5	5	6	6	7	5

The new bill that will come out of Congress – no matter what its specifics -- will significantly increase the role of the federal government in what has traditionally been a locally controlled issue: public education. Do Americans really want the federal government to be more involved in local schools?

As is often the case in public opinion polling, the way in which Americans are asked about the role of the federal government can make a significant difference in the types of responses obtained.

One question Gallup asked this past fall suggests that Americans tilt toward favoring more federal government involvement in education, rather than less. This question stressed "public education in this country" (as opposed to local schools), did not mention "Washington," used the word "involved" (as opposed to "control" or "influence") and gave respondents the opportunity to say "keep involvement the same." With all of these aspects of the question, the responses obtained were as follows.

In terms of public education in this country, do you think the federal government: should be more involved in education than it currently is, should keep its involvement about the same, or should be less involved in education than it currently is?[RANDOM ORDER]

 

	National adults	K-12 parents
April 7-9, 2000	%	%
More involved	46	50
Keep involvement same	22	22
Less involved	29	26
No opinion	3	2
Total	100%	100%

Other questions have found a type of response different from the one outlined above. For example, a question worded as follows:"Now, let's focus on the decisions made that affect the public schools in your community. As I name a specific group or individual, please tell me whether you think that group or individual has too much, too little, or just about the right amount of say in the decisions that affect the local public schools,"gets a much more negative response. By a margin of about two to one in response to this wording, Americans say they would like the federal government to have less influence (61%), rather than more (33%), in local decisions. In a similar vein, in the same survey, 49% say the federal government has too much influence on the decisions that affect the local public schools, compared to 16% who feel the government has too little influence, and 29% who say about the right amount.

One of the differences between the House and Senate versions of the education bill has to do with how much money should be spent on local schools and what "strings" to attach to the money when it is sent from the federal government down to the state level. What does the public say?

In determining how federal money should be distributed to the states, seven in 10 Americans (71%) think that the states should be given flexibility or leeway in how the money should be spent, while 23% think that the money should be specifically designated for particular programs.

And, in a poll conducted earlier this year, Americans were more enthusiastic about the potentially positive impact of the federal government providing money for local schools that the districts could use as they see fit, than they were about the federal government providing money for local schools "for programs specified by the federal government."

Some conservatives are disappointed that vouchers will not be included in this year's education bill, even though the concept of parents being able to use government money to send their children to private schools was initially supported by President Bush in his presidential campaign last year. What does the public say about vouchers?

Americans' opinions about the controversial issue of school vouchers have not yet formed into well-defined patterns of either support or opposition. A review of survey research conducted during the past year on the issue reveals a wide range of responses to questions about school choice and school voucher programs -- responses that largely depend on the way in which the programs are described to respondents in the questions. The data suggest that support intensifies when survey questions say the programs provide a choice for parents, that only part of the cost might be provided, or that attending religious schools is an option. Support is lowest when the programs are more simply described as providing government funding for students to attend private schools.

The vouchers issue is a complex area of public policy. The idea of providing parents and students with a choice of the way in which they can use public tax monies targeted for education is a concept that can be operationalized into specific programs in a variety of ways. No single voucher program has been advanced nationally, and it is likely that many Americans are only vaguely familiar with the concept.

All in all, how do Americans rate the nation's public schools today, as well as the public schools in their area?

It depends on how you ask the question.

Gallup surveys conducted for Phi Delta Kappa have shown for years that the grades Americans give to schools in their local communities are much higher than the grades they give to schools nationally. Forty-seven percent of American adults give the schools in their communities a grade of A or B, while only 20% give an A or B grade to schools across the country. (This type of local-versus-national disparity is often noted in survey research, and also pertains to such issues as healthcare and crime.)

Along these same lines, Gallup polling from 2000 showed that 61% of the public are either "somewhat dissatisfied" or "completely dissatisfied" with the quality of education in this country, while 36% are "completely satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied." Dissatisfaction appears to be growing, as opinion was more evenly divided on the quality of education in this country in 1999, when 47% were satisfied and 51% were dissatisfied.

Opinions differ dramatically, however, on the quality of education one's own children receive. In the same poll, 78% of parents of school-aged children say they are either completely satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the quality of education their oldest child is receiving, while only 18% express any sort of dissatisfaction. In contrast to the education numbers for the country as a whole, parents' satisfaction with their children's schooling has remained relatively stable during the past year.

Students are often given the grades A, B, C, D, and FAIL to denote the quality of their work. Suppose the public schools themselves, in this community, were graded in the same way. What grade would you give the public schools here -- A, B, C, D, or FAIL?(Gallup/Phi Delta Kappa Study)

 

	National totals		No children in school		Public school parents
	2000	1999	2000	1999	2000	1999
	%	%	%	%	%	%
A & B	47	49	44	47	56	56
A	11	11	10	10	14	15
B	36	38	34	37	42	41
C	35	31	35	31	33	31
D	8	9	8	10	6	8
FAIL	3	5	3	4	3	4
Don't know	7	6	10	8	2	1

How about the public schools in the nation as a whole? What grade would you give the public schools nationally -- A, B, C, D, or FAIL?(Gallup/Phi Delta Kappa study)

 

	National totals		No children in school		Public school parents
	2000	1999	2000	1999	2000	1999
	%	%	%	%	%	%
A & B	20	24	19	26	22	21
A	2	2	2	1	2	3
B	18	22	17	25	20	18
C	47	46	47	43	47	50
D	14	16	14	16	12	17
FAIL	5	4	6	4	4	5
Don't know	14	10	14	11	15	7

Survey Methods

These results are based on telephone interviews with randomly selected national samples of at least 1,000 adults, 18 years and older, conducted in 2000 and 2001. For results based on these samples, 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.