Report: Confidence in public education has declined since the pandemic

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Report: Confidence in public education has declined since the pandemic<figure id="attachment_126364" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-126364" style="width: 450px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img class="wp-image-126364 size-full jetpack-lazy-image" src="http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/AdobeStock_social-distance-in-schools-450.jpg" alt width="450" data-lazy-src="http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/AdobeStock_social-distance-in-schools-450.jpg?is-pending-load=1" srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7"><noscript><img data-lazy-fallback="1" class = "wp-image-126364 size-full" src = "http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/AdobeStock_social-distance-in-schools-450.jpg" alt = "" width = "450" ​​height = "319" /></noscript><figcaption id="caption-attachment-126364" class="wp-caption-text">The survey indicates a decline in trust in public education since the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on schools.</figcaption></figure>Nearly 50% of voters say their trust in public education has waned since the pandemic worsened public education, according to <a href = "// hunt-institute.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022.10 .31_THI_AcrosstheAisle_Report.pdf "target =" _ blank "rel =" noopener "> A national poll of voters and parents was released Monday </a> by Hunt Institute. The Hunt survey also showed that only a quarter of parents think school district officials, state education leaders, and school board members have handled challenges related to COVID well. </p> <p style = "text-align: left"> The findings are part of a report entitled “<em> Across the Aisle: Bridging the Education Gap, What Voters and Parents Want in Education. </ em>The report was jointly written by Hunt Institute President and CEO Jawed Siddiqui and former West Virginia Governor Bob Wise. </ p><br /> <figure id="attachment_144565" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-144565" style="width: 150px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="wp-image-144565 size-thumbnail jetpack-lazy-image" src="http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Javaid1-1-150x150.png" alt width="150" data-lazy-src="http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Javaid1-1-150x150.png?is-pending-load=1" srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7"><noscript><img data-lazy-fallback="1" class = "wp-image-144565 size-thumbnail" src = "http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Javaid1-1-150x150.png" alt = "" width = "150" الارتفاع = "150" /></noscript><figcaption id="caption-attachment-144565" class="wp-caption-text">Javed my friend</figcaption></figure>Siddiqui and Wise reported that growing discontent with public schools was most acute among Republican and independent voters. Declining perceptions of public schools coincided with growth in school choice choices and preferences, according to the two reports. Forty-four percent of parents surveyed said they enrolled their children in a private school, private school, or religious school because they thought the quality of education was better. Siddiqui said in a statement that the report gives policymakers insight into the issues that voters and parents care about most when it comes to schools. “This initiative was created to provide policy makers with accurate and unbiased insights into the minds of their constituents, so that we can translate past speculation into reality and action,” Siddiqui said. The report is a follow-up to last year’s 2021 Emerging Priorities for Education Leaders report which sought to understand educational challenges and issues that are high in the public’s mind. This year’s report explores whether priorities have changed. Here are some key points from the new report: </p> <ul> <li> <strong> Recent hot issues such as book bans and curriculum censorship are highly unpopular. </ strong> About 7 in 10 voters (68 percent) and 6 in 10 parents (60 percent) think book bans and curriculum censorship are a problem. Additionally, compared to other issues in the survey, it is among the lowest ranked priorities for policymakers to address. </ li> <li> <strong> School safety in particular is a high priority issue in the eyes of voters and parents. </strong> Three in four voters (75 percent) believe that guns and other forms of physical violence in schools are a problem, and an equal number (73 percent) believe that bullying, including cyberbullying, is a problem. </ li> <li > <strong> Voters view additional mental health support as a necessary part of recovery efforts. </ strong> More than half of voters (51 percent) strongly favor investing in a student’s individual needs, including social and emotional learning needs. In addition, 85 percent of voters believe that additional counseling or social, emotional and mental support would help students move on from the effects of the pandemic. </ li> <li> <strong> A year later, learning loss remains a high priority issue for parents and voters. </ strong> Seventy percent of voters think learning loss is a problem right now, and 40 percent think it’s a very big problem. Early literacy in particular is a major issue among the public with 70 percent of student voters deeming reading in class very important. </ li> </ul> <p><figure id="attachment_144566" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-144566" style="width: 150px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/bob-wise.webp"> <img class = "wp-image-144566 size-thumbnail" src = "http : //pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/bob-wise-150x150.webp "alt =" "width =" 150 "height =" 150 "/> </a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-144566" class="wp-caption-text">Bob Wise</figcaption></figure>The way forward, Wise said, is through the strategic use of billions of federal COVID relief dollars to make significant investments in public education. The deadline for states to use ESSER dollars for elementary and secondary schools is less than two years. The US Department of Education created the program in response to the pandemic. <strong> </strong> “People understand or are beginning to understand that there are federal dollars for education, and they want to do both,” Wise said. “They want to get back to a new normal and use the COVID relief dollars to get their kids safely back to school. At the same time, they realize this may be the only major source of investment we have for a long time, so they want to make both short and long term investments.”