April 25, 2002
Report & Analysis · Other Poll Releases
Parents with children in Georgia's public schools (K-12) rate the school system better than do Georgians without children in the schools, according to the latest Peach State Poll, a quarterly survey of public opinion done by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia. Forty-nine percent of respondents with children in Georgia's public schools rate the quality of education as either excellent (7 percent) or good (42 percent), as opposed to those without children in the schools, of whom only 32 percent rate the quality of education as either excellent (3 percent) or good (29 percent). Asked to grade their children's schools, parents give an average grade of about B-.
A plurality of respondents (36 percent) cited the quality of education, referring to either level of instruction or an ill-conceived curriculum, as the most important issue currently facing Georgia's public schools. Another 13 percent cite an insufficient level of funding for schools as the most important issue. Asked to choose among class size, teacher quality, and standardized tests as the greatest problem facing the state's schools today, a plurality (33 percent) chose teacher quality, with class size a close second (29 percent).
Standardized testing was cited by 21 percent of respondents as a problem for public schools among the three options, and when no options were presented, only 1 percent of respondents chose standardized testing as the most important issue facing the state's schools. About three in five Georgians (61 percent) believe that standardized tests are necessary to ensure that students are learning required material.
Other survey results:
§ About a third of Georgians (34 percent) believe that the amount of standardized testing in Georgia's public schools is about what it should be, while slightly fewer say it is too much (31 percent) or not enough (29 percent). Parents of public school students, however, are more likely than nonparents to say that students are being tested too much (35 percent compared with 28 percent).
§ Sixty percent of the public either strongly favor (33 percent) or somewhat favor (27 percent) the concept of holding teachers accountable for how their class performs on standardized tests. Additionally, 89 percent of the public favor requiring teachers to take periodic tests to assess competency in the fields in which they teach.
§ Nearly three in four Georgians favor the idea that students should be required to pass a standardized test as a prerequisite to graduating high school.
§ Nearly three in five Georgians think that class sizes in Georgia's public elementary schools are too large.
These data are taken from a Peach State Poll conducted between March 15 and March 19, 2002. The poll included 801 telephone interviews of randomly selected adults in Georgia. For a sample of this size, the margin of error at the 95 percent confidence level is +/- 3.5 percent.
