2024 Schooling in America Survey Is Out Now!
We at EdChoice are excited to announce the release of our annual Schooling in America (SIA) Survey. Now in its 12th year, the nationally representative survey of the general public and parents of school-age children offers an in-depth look at the opinions and trends shaping K–12 education in America.
Our annual SIA survey, in partnership with Braun Research, provides an opportunity to assess how Americans’ perspectives on K–12 education have shifted over the last decade. Over the course of the survey’s 12-year history, we have asked a set of recurring questions regarding the direction of K–12 education, parents’ satisfaction with their children’s schooling experience, and feelings towards educational choice policies. Additionally, a set of new questions are included each year that gauge parents’ opinions on more timely issues pertaining to K–12 education. New SIA questions this year focus on issues like technologies in schools and the classroom, accountability and transparency, and awareness of educational choice policies.
The Schooling in America Survey was fielded from April 9th to April 30th. We obtained nationally representative samples of American adults (N=1,502) and current school parents (N=2,319).
So, what did we find?
Parents are increasingly pessimistic about the direction of K–12 education
Nearly two-thirds (64%) of parents feel that K–12 education in America is on the wrong track. Not only is this an eight-point increase from last year, but this is the highest level of pessimism from parents that we’ve observed since we first asked the question in 2014. This is a relatively new development, as it was only two years ago that 52% of parents said that K–12 education was on the wrong track. Since then, negative sentiment among parents has increased 12 points, creating the largest opinion gap seen to date.
Educational choice policies remain very popular among parents
Perhaps relatedly, parents continue to show strong levels of support towards policies like education savings accounts (ESAs), school vouchers, charter schools, and tax-credit scholarships. When first asked in 2014, each type of educational choice policy garnered roughly 60 –70% support from parents. Take, for instance, ESAs. A decade ago in 2014, 62% of parents supported ESAs. Flash forward to today, 84% of parents are favorable towards ESAs. In fact, support for all four policies has increased since 2014.
Prioritizing demographic data
In the 2024 Schooling in America report, we’ve made it a priority to highlight and include visualizations of demographic data for various questions. For example, we’ve included tables listing the top 10 demographic groups in terms of support and opposition towards educational choice policies like ESAs and school vouchers. Examining demographic data often reveals interesting, and sometimes surprising, storylines. For example, it might be unexpected that Democrats (77%) are slightly more likely than Republicans (72%) to support ESAs. We hope the inclusion of demographic data can lead to more informed discussion on important issues within K–12 education.
As a short coda: those who follow our polling work may be curious how the Schooling in America Survey differs from the monthly polling conducted via the EdChoice Public Opinion Tracker (in partnership with Morning Consult). There are at least a few distinctions: 1) SIA is an annual polling series that launched nearly a decade before the Tracker monthly polling series. (2013 vs. 2020, respectively); 2) SIA’s more “responsive” questions, vis-à-vis current events, tend to reflect what’s been most salient and getting media attention during the school year in which we field the survey. 3) SIA uses a mixed-methods approach (both online and phone) compared to the single mode (online) method that we employ with the Tracker series. We believe that having two surveys with slightly differing methodologies conducted with different research partners allows us to have a more broadened approach toward common topics found in both surveys.
While this post touches on a few of the major themes included in the 2024 edition of SIA, it is just a glimpse into the abundant information we’ve covered in this survey. We encourage you to read the report in its entirety to get a more complete picture.
Later this month, we will be releasing the 2024 edition of our Schooling in America Survey dashboard so you can browse interactive charts and data right here on our website. Check back soon for these updates.
