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Writer's pictureJoanne Jacobs

82% of teachers say K-12 ed is getting worse

Eighty-two percent of teachers say public education has gotten worse in the last five years, according to a Pew survey. Fifty-three percent predict it will continue going downhill; only 20 percent expect an upswing.


Democrats were as negative as Republicans.


The political climate and the lasting effects of the pandemic get most of the blame.


Public education is heading in the wrong direction, according to 50 percent of U.S. adults surveyed by Pew. Only 16 percent think it's going in the right direction.


Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are more downbeat on K-12 schools than Democrats and Democrat-leaners.


But only 23 percent on the left and 10 percent on the right think public schools are headed in the right direction.


Among the pessimists, 69 percent say schools are not spending enough time on core academic subjects, reports Rachel Minkin.


Another 54 percent blame "teachers bringing their personal political and social views into the classroom" and 52 percent say schools need more funding and resources.


Thirteen percent of Republicans and Republican leaners think parents have too much influence on schools, compared to 46 percent of Democrats and Democrat leaners.


Only 33 percent of public school educators in high-poverty neighborhoods believe they're doing a good job preparing students for college, reports Joshua Bay on The 74. Forty-three percent say their students are prepared for the workforce, according to a new study by the National Center for Education Statistics.


In low-poverty areas, more than half say their students are prepared for college (52 percent) and jobs (53 percent).

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13 Comments


bkwormtoo
Apr 09

Sadly, I think PSs have been going downhill since the 60s. It started slowly, but it has been steady and seldom if ever uninterrupted.

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bkwormtoo
Apr 11
Replying to

I thought it obvious - mistakenly evidently - but I was speaking solely of quality of education.

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Richard Rider
Richard Rider
Apr 08

ONLY 82% of teachers think K-12 public education is going downhill? What the hell is wrong with the 18%? Are they ingesting too many mind-alternating drugs?

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Darren Miller
Darren Miller
Apr 09
Replying to

Where is it not going downhill?


Written by a man who's been in public education for 27 years, with 3 to go.

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m_t_anderson
Apr 08

If that's how they really feel, they need to be showing up angry at every school board meeting until things get turned around and improved. Answering surveys doesn't get it done.

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superdestroyer
Apr 08
Replying to

If they want schools to improve, then are they willing to accept higher levels of failures and grade retentions.

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superdestroyer
Apr 08

Why would anyone expect public schools where most students are on free lunch and fewer than half of the students live with their two biological parents to be improving? Of course, the survey data seems to reflect popular memes instead of reality.

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superdestroyer
Apr 09
Replying to

He did not provide a cite for the claim of 20 million free lunches versus the cite of 36 million children being eligible for free lunch. Try harder. And insults never work in policy discussions. Most public school students are eligible for free lunch. A large number of schools are high poverty schools as shown by having a majority of students eligible for free lunch. Those high poverty schools are not really capable of producing a large number of college/job ready students.

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