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What do adults know about public education?
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Title
What do adults know about public education?
Author
Amie Rapaport and Anna Rosefsky Saavedra
Publication Type
Journal paper
Outlet
Phi Delta Kappan
Year
2024
Abstract
Abstract
What do adults know about what is happening in schools? Not a whole lot.
Americans admit not understanding issues that influence school policy
Americans’ perceptions of student progress don’t align to experts’ analyses
How adults learn about education issues
The power of information
We must improve communication
Filling the knowledge vacuum
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Abstract
Adults’ beliefs and knowledge about the state of the U.S. education system drive decisions about policy, funding, program adoption, student participation in programs, and the selection of decision makers to elected positions. Amie Rapaport and Anna Rosefsky Saavedra share national survey data showing that U.S. adults have little knowledge about what is being taught in schools, express neutrality about belief systems undergirding education policy, and report experiences misaligned with hard-data trends on student academic progress in recent years. With adults reporting they learn about issues crucial to our education system mainly from “personal experience,” better information has the potential to improve U.S. education.