Americans knowledgeable about NCLB view it less favorably

09/13/05 -- The more people know about No Child Left Behind, the less they like it, reports the 37th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools.

If a large number of schools fail to make adequate yearly progress, the public is at least as likely to blame the law as it is to blame the school, the poll finds.

“These results tell us that the public hasn’t turned its back on NCLB but is likely to do so if the law’s strategies are not tailored to commonsense approaches. Policymakers would be well advised to listen,” says Lowell Rose, the former executive director of PDK International and co-author of the report.

The percentage of people who say they know a great deal or a fair amount about NCLB has grown from 24 percent in 2003 to 40 percent in the latest survey. But 59 percent say they know very little or nothing at all about the law.

Twenty-seven percent of the public have a very or somewhat unfavorable opinion of NCLB. But among those who have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of knowledge of NCLB, 57 percent have an unfavorable opinion of it.

Eighty-two percent of the public and 92 percent of those with knowledge of NCLB are concerned that the law’s emphasis on testing in English and math will lead to a reduced emphasis on art, music, history, and other subjects.

When asked about the strategies in the NCLB law for improving schools, 68 percent of those polled do not think that a single test provides a fair picture of how well a school is doing, and 80 percent do not think testing students on only English and math provides a fair picture of whether a school needs improvement.

Eighty-five percent believe schools should be judged on how much students improve in a given year, not on the percentage of students passing a state-mandated test.

The percentage of respondents who believe it is the responsibility of public schools to close the achievement gap between white students and black and Hispanic students has steadily grown in the past few years, reaching 58 percent in 2005.

Eighty-one percent agree that “the achievement gap can be narrowed substantially while maintaining high standards for all children.”

Lack of financial support for public schools “is solidly entrenched in the public mind as the major problem facing the nation’s public schools,” the report states.

When asked “What do you think are the biggest problems the public schools of your community must deal with?” 20 percent mentioned the lack of financial support. Inadequate funding has been the top problem each year for the past six years.

Among the other top problems mentioned by respondents, 11 percent cited overcrowded schools, 10 percent cited lack of discipline, and 9 percent cited drug use.

The public continues to oppose the use of public funding to support private schools. Fifty-seven percent oppose allowing students and parents to choose a private school to attend at public expense, compared to 54 percent in 2004.

About half of those polled (49 percent) support the concept of charter schools, but 65 percent stipulate that they should not be created at the expense of regular public schools. Eighty percent think charter schools should be held accountable in the same way as other schools.

As in past polls, Americans continue to make a distinction between the “nation’s schools” and “schools in the community.” They continue to give the lowest grade to the former and the highest grade to the schools their own children attend.