Hoosiers express concern for public education quality

Results of a recent survey show Indiana residents are concerned about the future of public education in the state, but there is little consensus on what types of changes should be implemented.

Last week, the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at IU released the results of the 2010 Public Opinion Survey on K-12 Education in Indiana.

The survey, which was conducted by phone in November and December, heard a sample of 612 state residents’ opinions on a variety of topics relating to education, including many issues currently facing the Indiana General Assembly.

Each year the survey asks respondents to assign a letter grade to Indiana public school quality. For the first time in the survey’s history, the majority response was a C grade with 37.1 percent, and the second highest response was a B grade at 31.4 percent.

Terry Spradlin, associate director of education policy for the CEEP , said he thinks that media and government coverage of education reform has influenced residents’ evaluation of public schools.

“I think what we’re hearing in the media through some of the messages being conveyed by our state leaders, it’s taking hold that schools aren’t doing as well,” Spradlin said.

Spradlin said for the most part, Indiana residents are not too dissatisfied with public education. The grades of D and F received 12.7 percent of responses combined.

A demographic breakdown of the results revealed that central Indiana residents are most pessimistic about school quality, while southern Indiana residents are most satisfied with their schools.

CEEP Director Jonathan Plucker said respondents answered more favorably about the schools they know best.

When respondents were asked about their local community school corporation, 37.1 percent assigned a B grade to the quality of those schools.

“Several national and state polls have found similar ‘There’s a problem but not in my schools’ phenomenon,” Plucker said. “Americans are traditionally tough critics of their public schools in general, but their attitudes soften when asked about their local
public schools.”

The Indiana General Assembly is considering to improve teacher quality, and the survey asked respondents questions regarding the evaluation of teachers and administrators.

Rod Whiteman, graduate research associate for CEEP, said Indiana residents generally want to use teacher evaluations to help teachers improve.

Some residents said they believed the evaluations should be used to dismiss ineffective teachers, and 59 percent of respondents indicated evaluations should play a role in teacher salary.

Further questioning regarding teacher pay revealed Indiana residents may like to see a change in the way teachers are compensated.

Responders voted on each of the factors they felt should determine whether teachers should receive higher or lower pay.

Teachers’ years of experience received the least support with 57.7 percent of responses, while more popular responses include student achievement in the classroom at 75.4 percent, teacher education level at 65.2 percent, principals’ evaluations at 63.7 percent and student achievement on standardized tests at 58.6 percent.

“Hoosiers are recognizing that this idea of compensation is fairly complex, and there should be a variety of factors included,” Whiteman said.