The Phi Delta Kappa (PDK) poll of the Public’s Attitude Toward the Public Schools released in September of each year is always an interesting read. I find the information in the poll to be great conversation starters and I’d love to have a conversation with community members about topics in the poll if people are interested.
The 2019 report is titled, Frustration in the Schools, and documents significant concerns about teacher pay, funding, and feeling valued. In addition, assessing school quality, workforce preparation, and discipline in the schools are topics in which teachers and parents are surveyed. Here are some of this year’s interesting findings:
- Americans identified a lack of funding as the biggest problem facing their local schools for the 18th year in a row. The idea of raising taxes to support public schools still is unpopular, but many of the survey respondents indicated they would support using state lottery revenue, and money from legal recreational marijuana and sports gambling to increase school funding.
- Half of public school teachers nationally have seriously considered leaving the profession in the past few years frustrated by poor pay and underfunding. Sixty percent of teachers say they are unfairly paid. In addition, stress/burnout and a lack of respect fuel their desire to leave. The poll also shows 55% of teachers would not want their child to follow them into the profession.
- A majority of teachers and parents believe the best way to measure a school’s performance is to look at students’ improvement over time rather than the percentage of students who pass a standardized state test. A higher percentage of teachers and parents alike assign an A or B grade to their community’s public schools than to the nation’s public schools overall.
- Seventy-five percent of parents and 82% of teachers say schools should prepare students both for jobs and academically. It is interesting that 45% of all parents would prefer their child take a job skills elective class rather than an advanced academic or art/music class in high school. In addition, 57% of parents expect their child to go to a four year college full time after high school.
- A majority of teachers and parents also see mediation and counseling as more effective than detention or suspension in responding to school discipline problems. The concept of zero tolerance is supported by teachers and parents, but less support exists when it comes to the actual application of this policy. When a common school situation is provided, i.e. a student accidentally brings a folded knife to school in a back pack, the majority of teachers and parents do not believe the student should automatically be suspended or expelled.
I would encourage you to access the PDK poll at https://pdkpoll.org/ to learn more about how Americans view their public schools. Then, begin talking with others in our community. What can be done to improve the funding for public education? How do we increase teacher salaries and decrease stress/burnout in order to encourage young people to enter the profession? How do we message what our schools are accomplishing so that our community can see the growth that is happening in our students? How do we promote the value of technical schools in addition to four year colleges? How can schools incorporate more mediation and counseling to resolve problems rather than placing students in detention or suspending them from school? These are questions which must be considered by all of us because our public schools belong to all of us. I’m just beginning to set up my township meetings for the year and my Coffee with the Superintendent sessions. Please join me at the meetings and we can start the conversation and enjoy some dialogue. Happy holidays!
If you have any questions or comments about the information and opinions expressed in this edition of The School Bell, please contact Cindy Zahrte, District Administrator, at cindyzahrte@tomah.education or 374-7002.