As Students Return to Class, Public Confidence in Schools Falters
AllSides Summary
New data from Gallup suggests that public confidence in schools is falling, especially among Republicans.
The poll says 42% of U.S. adults are satisfied with the state of K-12 education, down from 51% in January 2019 and the lowest reading Gallup has recorded since 2000, when it was 36%. The drop has been mostly among Republicans. More Democrats are satisfied now (51%) than in 2019 (50%), but Republican satisfaction dropped from 50% to 30% in the same period. Of those who said they were dissatisfied, 82% either cited concerns with curriculum or political agendas.
Meanwhile, the poll also says that 80% of parents with children in grades K-12 say they're at least somewhat satisfied with the quality of their oldest child's education, including 85% of Democratic/Democratic-leaning parents and 74% of Republican/Republican-leaning parents.
Many right-rated news sources covered the Gallup data; few left-rated sources did. Many on the right framed it as evidence that hidden political agendas within school curriculum are straining public confidence. A report from the Washington Post quoted voices who made similar arguments, while also highlighting teacher shortages and suggesting that conservative politicians like Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) "found it could be politically advantageous to blast teachers." Conversely, a report from Washington Free Beacon (Right bias) said Youngkin "rode a wave of dissatisfaction with school boards in Virginia's suburbs to victory."
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Center
Americans' Satisfaction With K-12 Education on Low Side
Americans have become less content in recent years with the quality of the nation's K-12 education. The 42% who say they are satisfied today is the lowest measured in the past two decades by one percentage point and the second-lowest reading in Gallup's 23-year trend. Americans' satisfaction with schools was at a near-record high of 51% in 2019 before dropping slightly each year since.
At the same time, parents of children attending kindergarten through grade 12 remain largely content with their oldest child's education. The 80% who are completely or...
From the Left
Trust in teachers is plunging amid a culture war in education
Americans are losing faith in their schoolteachers.
New polling suggests that fierce debates over what educators should be allowed to do and say in classrooms, an ascendant parents’ rights movement seeking control of what children learn at school, recent criticism of teachers from conservative lawmakers and news outlets and the lingering aftershocks from the pandemic have all sapped public confidence in the teaching profession.
In January, a Gallup poll found that Americans’ belief in grade-school teachers’ honesty had dropped to an all-time low, with 64 percent of adults reporting they believe...
From the Right
American Adults’ Satisfaction With K-12 Public Education at 20-Year Low: Poll
Nearly every one in four American adults are not at all satisfied with the state of their nation’s K-12 public education, a new poll says.
The latest Gallup poll, released Sept. 1, reports that just 42 percent of respondents said they’re at least somewhat satisfied with the quality of education offered at K-12 public schools in the United States, marking the lowest reading since 2000 (36 percent).
At the same time, 23 percent of respondents said they are “completely dissatisfied,” and 32 percent are “somewhat dissatisfied.”
The sentiment is much more positive when...
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