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Gallup
Seven in 10 Parents
Satisfied With Their Child's Education
By Megan Brenan
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
71% of parents satisfied with the quality of their child's K-12
education
43% of Americans satisfied with K-12 education quality in the U.S.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As children across the U.S. begin a new school
year, parents continue to be much more satisfied with the quality of
the education their child is receiving than with K-12 education in the
U.S. overall. Seven in 10 parents with school-aged children are
"completely" or "somewhat" satisfied with the quality of their oldest
child's education, while 48% say the same about the quality of K-12
education in the U.S.
Since 1999, when Gallup first started asking these two questions every
August, there has been a consistent, sizable gap between parents'
satisfaction with their child's education and their views of U.S.
education in general.
Parents' current satisfaction with their child's education, from an
Aug. 1-12 poll, is slightly below the historical average of 76% and is
also down slightly from last year's 79% reading. It is marginally
higher than the lowest points on this measure -- 67% in 2013 and 68% in
2002. The highest level, 83%, was in 1999.
Parents of school-aged children mirror the attitudes of all Americans
when it comes to rating the quality of education in the nation's
schools. Currently, 43% of Americans are satisfied, slightly below the
48% of parents of K-12 students who are satisfied.
The current 43% satisfaction rating by all Americans for K-12 education
in the U.S. is very close to the historical average of 45%. The low
point in public satisfaction with the nation's schools over this
20-year trend was 36% in 2000, when education was a key issue in the
presidential election. The 53% high point in satisfaction in 2004 was
the only time more Americans were satisfied than dissatisfied. The
higher level that year was primarily driven by Republicans' positivity
as President George W. Bush's "No Child Left Behind" education reforms
began to take hold.
Partisans' satisfaction with the quality of the nation's K-12 education
in some instances tracks with who occupies the White House. When the
president is a Republican, rank-and-file Republicans have often shown
somewhat higher levels of satisfaction than Democrats have, and the
same is true of Democrats under a Democratic president.
There have been times in each presidential administration when there
has been little to no difference between Republicans' and Democrats'
satisfaction. That is the case now, as 45% of Democrats and
Democratic-leaning independents and 43% of Republicans and
Republican-leaning independents say they are completely or somewhat
satisfied with the quality of U.S. education.
Although Republicans' and Democrats' satisfaction levels are currently
similar, they represent a marked change from two years ago. In August
2016, with Barack Obama in office, 53% of Democrats and 32% of
Republicans were satisfied with the nation's K-12 education. In August
2017, after Donald Trump took office, Republican satisfaction rose 11
percentage points while Democratic satisfaction edged down two points.
While Republican satisfaction is currently unchanged from last year,
satisfaction among Democrats has declined an additional six points,
marking an eight-point two-year drop since Trump became president --
and creating the current situation in which satisfaction is essentially
equal between both partisan groups.
Bottom Line
Parents of children in kindergarten through 12th grade in the U.S.
remain much more satisfied with the quality of their child's education
than U.S. education overall. This trend, which has endured for two
decades, is further evidence of a common pattern in Gallup polling that
finds more positivity about one's own situation than the same issue or
entity on a larger national scale. Similar patterns are consistently
seen in Americans' assessments of healthcare, crime and elected
officials.
Americans' current level of satisfaction with K-12 education in the
U.S. is close to the historical average and reflects typical partisan
changes following a change in the party occupying the White House. As
the Trump administration continues its efforts to shrink the federal
government's role in K-12 education and push for school vouchers,
Republicans' satisfaction may increase while Democrats' may continue to
sink.
Read this and other articles at Gallup
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