Private school leaders consider the potential benefits of private school choice program participation against costs associated with program regulations. Rational Choice Theory suggests leaders in states with conditions related to greater likelihood of program passage may be less willing to accept such regulations. To test this theory, we merge…

These are the results of the 16th annual "Education Next" survey, conducted in May 2022 with a nationally representative sample of 1,784 American adults. While last year's survey revealed sharp changes in support for a variety of education reforms (EJ1348128), public opinion on most issues has since rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.…

Does the experience of teaching in low-income schools through Teach for America (TFA) affect individuals' views on education policy and reform? And if so, how? For this article, the authors surveyed TFA applicants for the 2007-15 cohorts to find out. The survey targeted the set of applicants who had advanced to the competitive program's final…

Education's political landscape has shifted dramatically over the past year. To the consternation of most school-district officials, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos used the bully pulpit to promote charter schools, vouchers, and tax credits for private-school scholarships. To the distress of teachers unions, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down…

With the 2020 presidential election campaign now underway, education-policy proposals previously at the edge of the political debate are entering the mainstream. Support for increasing teacher pay is higher now than at any point since 2008, and a majority of the public favors more federal funding for local schools. Free college commands the…

This paper examines the effects of declining student enrolment and population loss on one rural school district in the United States, as well as the district's strategies to mitigate these effects. In the state of Wisconsin, the relationship between student enrolment and school funding destabilises rural school districts experiencing population…

The "Minnesota K-12 & School Choice Survey" project, commissioned by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice and conducted by Braun Research, Inc. (BRI), measures Minnesota registered voters' familiarity and views on a range of K-12 education topics and school choice reforms. The author and his colleagues report response…

This annual survey--developed and reported by EdChoice and interviews conducted by our partner, Braun Research, Inc.--measures public opinion and awareness on a range of K-12 education topics, including parents' schooling preferences, educational choice policies, the federal government's role in education and more. We report response levels,…

Background: Scholars widely acknowledge that politics help explain why policies are adopted and how they play out in states, districts, and schools. To date, political analyses of education reform tend to isolate a particular policy and examine the politics of its adoption or implementation, but pay less attention to the effects of the politics of…

K-12 educators comprise a large and influential presence in American politics. Not only do they vote in significant numbers, but they also, at least in theory, possess the power to shape a new generation of young voters, not least by encouraging informed civic participation. When it comes to myriad issues related directly to education, their views…

In this paper the authors identify some of the key findings from the sixth annual "Education Next"-PEPG Survey, a nationally representative sample of U.S. citizens interviewed during April and May of 2012. Highlights include: (1) the Republican tilt of the education views of independents; (2) the especially high marks that Hispanics give their…

The year 2016 marks the 10th anniversary of the "Education Next" poll on K-12 education policy, offering "Education Next" the opportunity to take a retrospective look at public opinion on this vital topic. In 8 of the past 10 years, "Education Next" has also surveyed teachers on the subject and has seen some…

Despite low opinions of the nation's schools, Americans rate public school teachers more highly now than they have in the past, according to the 2011 Phi Delta Kappa International (PDK)/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools. More than 70% say they have trust and confidence in the men and women who teach in public schools.…

When California legislators passed the California Charter School Act of 1992, it allowed parents the choice of sending their children to public charter schools, places where teachers would have more autonomy and where schools faced exemptions from state education codes and from collective bargaining contracts. Hope Charter School (a pseudonym;…

This study is designed to increase understanding of the district's role in school improvement and factors contributing to the success of districts and their schools. American Institutes for Research (AIR), as a partner in the California Comprehensive Center at WestEd, has identified high-performing districts in California to learn from their…