Only 36% of Americans Express Confidence in Government Schools

They express low confidence despite spending high dollars…here is Joshua Denton writing at the Illinois Family Institute:

A new Gallup survey shows that the majority of Americans are not confident in government school systems. Only thirty-six percent of Americans expressed a ‘great deal’ or ‘quite a lot’ of confidence in government schools. This is however,  the largest number who are fairly confident in government schools since 2009.

Graph 1

The survey also found that both Democrats and Republicans are now more confident in government schools than in years previous. According to the Gallup survey:

The upswing in confidence in public schools from 2016 to 2017 is evident among both Republicans (up nine points) and Democrats (up five points). The tendency for Democrats to be more confident than Republicans in public schools has been generally constant over the past nine years, and is evident this year, with 41% of Democrats and 30% of Republicans confident in public schools.

Graph 2

The survey shows that the lowest point of confidence in the government school system was in 2014, when roughly one in four Americans, or twenty six percent. In 1987, fifty percent of Americans were confident in the education that the public schools provided their children.

Gallup has been measuring confidence in government schools since 1987. The survey notes:

From 1995 through 2006, the confidence rating for public schools remained fairly stable, hovering near 40%. From 2007 to 2014, with the exception of a significant bump in 2009 — the year that many states committed to the development of the Common Core State Standards — and a smaller uptick in 2013, confidence declined incrementally.

Government schools in the United States have certainly struggled to maintain confidence but this six point surge from 2016 to 2017 is evidence of the possible beginning of a positive trend. One factor that may be helping to boost confidence in America’s government school system is an all time high of graduation rates. The dropout rates are also seeing a decline.

Read more: Illinois Family Institute

Image credit: www.illinoisfamily.org.