College and Post-grad education in U.S. seen as much better than primary or
secondary
NEW YORK–(Business Wire)–
As health care wanes from the political battlefield, the time is right for
another issue to take its place. With the upcoming reauthorization of No Child
Left Behind, that issue is education–and the White House has already said they
anticipate making sweeping changes to the law.

But what do Americans think about education in the U.S.? Looking at the quality
of education from kindergarten to 12th grade as a whole, two in five Americans
(43%) give it a passing grade of a “C” while three in ten (33%) feel more
positively and say it deserves a “B”. While very few would give the quality of
education a “D” (8%) or an “F” (4%), just as few would give it an “A” (6%).

There is a difference when it comes to the quality of local education – people
think more highly of it. One-third of Americans (34%) would give their local
school systems a “B” while 31% would give them a “C” and 15% an “A”. Less than
one in ten (8%) say they deserve a “D” and just 5% would give local schools an
“F”.

These are some of the results of BBC World News America/Harris Poll of 2,283
adults surveyed online between March 22 and 24, 2010 by Harris Interactive.

Quality of levels of education as well as types of schools

There is also a difference of opinion on the quality of education at the
different levels in the United States. Just 15% say elementary/middle school
education is excellent or very good and 11% say the same about high school
education. Over one-quarter (28%) say elementary/middle school education is not
that good and 7% say it is not good at all. Even more say high school education
is not that good (38%) or not good at all (10%).

Higher education in the United States, however, is seen in a different light.
Two in five Americans (40%) say the quality of college education in the U.S. is
excellent or very good and almost half (46%) say about the same for
post-graduate education. Just 2% say that college education or post-graduate
education is not good at all in the United States.

The type of school one attends impacts the quality of the education they receive
according to Americans. Over half of U.S. adults (53%) say the quality of
education provided by public schools is poor or fair, with only 10% saying it is
excellent or very good and three in ten (31%) saying it is good. Homeschooling
is seen in a more negative light – 34% say the quality of education it provides
is poor or fair while 23% say it is excellent or very good, 23% say it is good
and 21% are not at all sure.

Private schools are seen as providing better quality. Two in five Americans say
the quality of private, church related schools (39%) and private, non-church
related schools (41%) is excellent or pretty good and 30% say each of these
types of private schools provides a good quality of education. Just under one in
five (17%) say the quality of the education provided by church based private
schools is fair or poor and 13% say the same about non-church related schools.

Looking at subject matters

Compared to other countries in the world, the United States is seen as worse in
teaching some of the important subjects. Three in five Americans (62%) say the
U.S. is worse in teaching math to students and over half (56%) say the U.S. is
worse in teaching science. Just under half of adults (46%) say the U.S. is worse
than other countries in teaching reading comprehension, while 19% say the U.S.
is better.

There is an interesting regional difference with regard to the quality of
teaching on these subject matters. Those in the West are the most negative.
Seven in ten Westerners (70%) say the quality of math education is worse
compared to other countries, compared to 58% of those in the East and Midwest.
Three in five Westerners (61%) say the quality of science being taught is worse
than in other countries compared to 49% of Easterners.

So what?

Looking at the quality of education, there are definitely areas which need to be
improved. For example, in comparison to other countries, the perception is that
education in the U.S. is worse in the three main subject areas. And looking at
the comparison of test scores, this is a perception based in reality. If the
Obama administration will be focusing on improving the quality of education,
they will need to start by focusing on these core issues. They will also need to
look at the difference among perceived quality by different levels. When half of
Americans say the quality of high school education in this country is not good,
that is one place to start.

TABLE 1
GRADING K-12 EDUCATION IN THE U.S.
“If A+ is the best grade possible and F is failing, what grade would you give the quality of education from kindergarten to 12th grade in the United States as a whole?”
Base: All Adults
Total Region Children in HH
East Midwest South West Have Children No Children
in HH in HH
% % % % % % %
A (SUB-NET) 6 7 6 8 4 8 6
A+ 1 1 1 1 * * 1
A 2 3 2 2 2 3 2
A- 3 3 3 5 2 5 3
B (SUB-NET) 33 44 33 32 25 36 32
B+ 7 9 6 7 5 9 6
B 13 19 13 12 11 15 13
B- 13 16 14 13 9 12 14
C (SUB-NET) 43 39 45 43 47 44 43
C+ 15 16 18 15 13 13 16
C 16 11 14 18 20 18 15
C- 12 12 13 10 14 13 12
D 8 4 7 8 12 7 8
F 4 * 4 4 4 3 4
Not at all sure 5 6 5 4 7 3 6
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding, * indicates less than 1%

TABLE 2
GRADING K-12 EDUCATION IN YOUR AREA
“Now, think about the school systems in your area. What grade would you give the quality of education from kindergarten to 12th grade in your local schools?”
Base: All Adults
Total Region Children in HH
Northeast Midwest South West Has Children No Children
in HH in HH
% % % % % % %
A (SUB-NET) 15 19 19 14 9 20 13
A+ 2 3 1 3 2 3 2
A 5 7 6 3 3 7 4
A- 8 8 11 8 4 10 7
B (SUB-NET) 34 41 37 33 27 37 33
B+ 10 14 12 7 7 13 8
B 15 17 14 14 13 17 14
B- 10 10 10 11 7 8 11
C (SUB-NET) 31 27 28 33 35 27 32
C+ 11 11 10 12 12 13 11
C 11 10 10 11 13 6 13
C- 8 6 8 9 10 8 9
D 8 6 5 9 12 7 8
F 5 2 5 5 7 5 5
Not at all sure 7 6 7 7 11 4 9
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 3
QUALITY OF EDUCATION
“In general, how good would you say the quality of education is at these various levels in the United States?”
Base: All Adults
Excellent/ Excellent Very Good Not Good at Not that Not good Not at all
Very Good Good all/Not that good at all sure
(SUB-NET) Good (NET)
% % % % % % % %
Elementary/Middle School 15 3 12 43 34 28 7 7
High School 11 1 10 34 49 38 10 6
College 40 11 29 35 14 11 2 11
Post-Grad 46 19 27 26 9 7 2 19
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 4
QUALITY OF EDUCATION
“In general, how good would you say the quality of education is at these various levels in the United States?”
Percentage saying “Not good at all/Not that good”
Base: All Adults
TOTAL Region Income
East Midwest South West Less than $35K- $50K- $75K+
$35K $49.9K $74.9K
% % % % % % % % %
Elementary/Middle School 34 29 32 33 43 31 29 36 41
High School 49 41 45 50 57 44 46 48 56
College 14 10 14 12 19 13 11 13 14
Post-Grad 9 6 9 9 12 10 8 9 8
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 5
TYPES OF SCHOOLS
“Thinking now of different types of schools, how would you rate the quality of education provided by the following in the United States?”
Base: All Adults
Excellent/Very Excellent Very Good Poor/Fair Fair Poor Not at all

Good Good (NET) sure
(SUB-NET)
% % % % % % % %
Public Schools 10 1 8 31 53 35 18 6
Private, Church related 39 12 27 30 17 12 5 14
Private, non-church related 41 10 31 30 13 11 3 16
Homeschooling 23 7 16 23 34 22 12 21
Charter schools 27 5 21 31 19 16 4 23
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 6
TYPES OF SCHOOLS
“Thinking now of different types of schools, how would you rate the quality of education provided by the following in the United States?”
Percentage saying “Excellent/Very Good/Good”
Base: All Adults
TOTAL Age Children in HH
18-34 35-44 45-54 55+ Have No
Children in Children in
HH HH
% % % % % % %
Public Schools 41 45 42 39 37 47 38
Private, Church related 69 62 70 67 75 75 66
Private, non-church related 71 68 72 68 75 72 71
Homeschooling 45 45 42 44 48 53 43
Charter schools 57 51 60 59 60 60 56
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 7
COMPARISON BY SUBJECT MATTER
“Compared to other countries around the world, where do you think the United States stands in teaching these particular subjects to students?”
Base: All Adults
Much/Somewhat Much Somewhat Neither Much/Somewhat Somewhat Much
Better (NET) Better Better Better nor Worse (NET) Worse Worse
Worse
% % % % % % %
Math 12 2 10 26 62 41 20
Science 14 3 12 29 56 38 19
Reading Comprehension 19 3 15 35 46 34 12
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 8
COMPARISON BY SUBJECT MATTER
“Compared to other countries around the world, where do you think the United States stands in teaching these particular subjects to students”?
Percentage saying “Much/Somewhat Worse”
Base: All Adults
Total Region Child in HH Age
East Midwest South West Have No 18- 35- 45- 55+
Children Children 34 44 54
in HH in HH
% % % % % % % % % % %
Math 62 58 58 62 70 56 64 58 57 59 69
Science 56 49 55 59 61 47 60 47 53 59 65
Reading 46 39 43 47 53 38 48 37 42 47 55
Comprehension
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.

Methodology

This BBC World News America/Harris Poll was conducted online within the United
States between March 22 and 24, 2010 among 2,283 adults (aged 18 and over).
Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income
were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual
proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to
adjust for respondents` propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are
subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to
quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated
with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options,
and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids
the words “margin of error” as they are misleading. All that can be calculated
are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure,
unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical
because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to
participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to
reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on
those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of
theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

The results of this Harris Poll may not be used in advertising, marketing or
promotion without the prior written permission of Harris Interactive.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council
on Public Polls.

The Harris Poll®#53, April 14, 2010
By Regina A. Corso, Director, The Harris Poll, Harris Interactive

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is one of the world`s leading custom market research firms,
leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant
insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for
pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide
range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy,
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For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

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ahall@harrisinteractive.com

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