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Education is an issue that touches everyone – and can easily be divisive, especially when it comes to matters like whether teachers should be allowed to conceal information from parents about their child. So, where do Americans agree on education policy?

Related: Bipartisan Group of Senators Hope to Fund Improved Civics Education

Parents and teachers are extremely passionate about making sure their children get the best quality education – they just don’t always agree on how to do it. Was remote learning safe or harmful? Are teachers’ unions necessary or detrimental? Should kids learn about LGBTQ topics and issues in schools?

Still, there are some aspects of education almost everyone can agree on. Here are a few examples of data and stories to support that:

  • School choice is supported by 68% of Democrats, 67% of Independents, and 82% of Republicans, according to the American Federation for Children’s 2022 polling.

  • 76% of Democrats, 77% of Independents, and 74% of Republicans agree on the following: “My child’s school does a good job keeping me informed about the curriculum, including potentially controversial topics,” according to Ipsos 2022 data

  • 52% of Republicans, 70% of Democrats, and 51% of Independents support capping student-to-staff ratios in schools. This comes from Data for Progress (Left)

  • 65% of Republicans and 60% of Democrats think high school grades should play a major factor in college admissions. Only 47% of Republicans and 34% of Democrats think standardized testing should be a major factor in college admissions, according to Pew Research’s (Center bias) 2022 data.

  • 73% of Democrats and 71% of Republicans support annual testing, according to 2022 data from Education Next. 

  • 77% of Republicans and 92% of Democrats who think higher education is headed in the wrong direction believe that tution costs are too high, according to 2019 Pew data

  • 77% of Democrats and 76% of Republicans say we should increase investmetns in trade schools adn other alternatives to college, according to YouGov polls

  • 83% of Republicans and 82% of Democrats support requiring a financial literacy class in highschool, YouGov finds

  • 83% of Republicans and 90% of Democrats think we shoud provide free school lunches to low-income students in public schools, YouGov data states. 

 

See more examples of common ground on issues where you might not expect to find it:

 

Clare Ashcraft is the Bridging & Bias Assistant at AllSides. She has a Center bias.

Reviewed by Henry A. Brechter, Managing Editor (Center bias), and Andrew Weinzierl, Research Manager & Data Journalist (Lean Left bias)