What does the Public think of Public Schools?

Highlights of the Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll on Public Schools


In this Kappan article, William Bushaw (of PDK International) and Shane Lopez (of Gallup) present the results of the 44th annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll of American attitudes and beliefs about the public schools. Some excerpts:

- 35% of this representative slice of Americans say lack of financial support is the biggest problem in their community’s schools, followed by lack of discipline, named by only 8%.

- 50% say the Common Core State Standards will improve the quality of education, versus 8% who say they will decrease the quality of education (40% say they will make no difference).

- 89% say it is very or somewhat important to close the racial achievement gap, and 84% think this can be done while maintaining high standards for all children.

- 62% say they are willing to pay more taxes to provide funds to improve the quality of the nation’s urban public schools (37% are unwilling).

- 58% oppose providing free public education, school lunches, and other benefits to the children of illegal immigrants (41% favor it).

- 52% are in favor of requiring that teacher evaluations include how well a teacher’s students perform on standardized tests (47% are opposed).

- 48% give a grade of A or B to their community’s public schools, versus 19% giving a grade of A or B to the nation’s public schools.

- 63% say students should be required to stay in school till they are 18 years old.

- 66% favor the idea of charter schools.

- 70% favor laws that allow parents to petition to remove the leadership and staff of failing schools.

- 45% say they were bullied by another student when they were in school; 16% confess to bullying another student.

- 58% say schools should investigate and discipline students involved in bullying incidents outside of school, including over the Internet.

- 71% say they have trust and confidence in the people who are teaching children in the public schools.



“Public Education in the United States: A Nation Divided” by William Bushaw and Shane Lopez in Phi Delta Kappan, September 2012 (Vol. 94, #1, p. 8-25); the full results of 44th Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools are available at http://www.pdkpoll.org.

Freshman - There is Hope

For years we have recognized that the most challenging year of high school is the first year – the lowly freshman. Often when I’m dealing with a fifth-year senior it becomes clear that it was the freshman year where they stumbled. We see classes failed and more academic struggles every year from the kids in grade 9.


So, this year at Lake Forest High School, they are launching a new initiative aimed at teaching 9th graders to think about the future. If you happen to have one in your house, you may respond “My child can’t see past Friday night and you’re going to get them to think about the future?”

Yes.  At least we hope so.

It’s called freshman seminar. Each 9th grader is enrolled. Ever student will be challenged to envision a future that includes:

• Graduation from high school

• Further education beyond high school

• Transition to workforce and economic self-sufficiency

They will be using the Career Choices curriculum which takes the kids through a step by step process to help them answer the questions: Who am I? What do I want? How do I get it? There will be more than 100 active-learning activities, each building upon the other. What does living on your own really cost? What does it cost to support and feed a family? How much money do I need for rent or mortgage?

The activities are designed to document the journey of self-exploration and can be used as a portfolio of sorts that can be modified as years go by.

We are excited about the introduction of Career Choices at Lake Forest High School as a part of the new Freshman Seminar. We feel confident it has the potential for creating many more successful Freshman Spartans