Survey shows support for NCLB

Most respondents rated their own public schools no higher than a C.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A new national survey shows that a small majority of the public backs the reauthorization of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

The survey, conducted by the Program on Education Policy and Governance’s Education Next at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, found that 57 percent of adults suggested that Congress renew the act either as is or with minor changes.

The level of support for federal accountability legislation is even higher, if the specific words — No Child Left Behind — aren’t mentioned in the survey.

When NCLB is described as “federal legislation” rather than mentioned by name, as was the case for a randomly selected half the survey respondents, support for extending its accountability provisions rose to 71 percent.

Current and former public school employees, however, consistently registered lower levels of support for NCLB. Only 42 percent of them supported renewing the law with minimal or no changes.

Most respondents gave the nation’s public schools only mediocre marks — the majority gave them no better than a C. Specifically, 43 percent gave the schools in their own community an A or a B, 38 percent gave them a C, and 18 percent gave a D or F.

When asked about public schools around the nation, these grades drop. Just 22 percent gave public schools in general an A or B, 55 percent, a C, and 24 percent, a D or F.  

More results

Here are other survey findings:

•51 percent say spending on public education should increase.

•10 percent want spending cuts.

•77 percent favor creating smaller classes.

•73 percent favor a national proficiency test standard rather than allowing each state to set its own standards.

•81 percent would require pupils to pass an exam before proceeding to the next grade level.

•85 percent support requiring passage of an exam before graduation.

•45 percent agree that a teacher’s salary should depend in part on students’ academic progress; 31 percent disagree.

•45 percent favor offering vouchers to low-income families; 34 percent oppose the idea.

•53 percent favor tax credits for low-income families’ sending their children to private school; 25 percent oppose them.

•44 percent support the formation of charter schools.

•75 percent believe that charter schools should be given at least the same amount of funding per child as district-operated public schools.

•55 percent believe that home-schooled children should be able to take selected classes at local public schools.

•56 percent support allowing home-schoolers to participate in sports programs.