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ERIC Number: ED315472
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1989-Apr
Pages: 36
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
The Lack of Confidence in Public Education in Wisconsin. A Survey of How 3,000 Wisconsin Residents View Public Education in Wisconsin. Volume 2, No. 4.
Black, Gordon S.
Although Wisconsin citizens support public education, they have significant doubts about the quality of education in the state and would support a number of reforms aimed at changing its structure, character, and accountability. Three telephone surveys were conducted with three representative samples of 1,000 citizens between January 1988 and January 1989. A few of the same questions were asked in all three surveys, but each survey's focus varied slightly based on information obtained from an earlier survey or focus groups that were conducted prior to each wave of interviewing. The following general findings are discussed: (1) statewide, most citizens do not believe that the quality of education is excellent or that students today receive as good an education as they did, and in Milwaukee, 72 percent of the residents view the quality of education as poor; (2) most respondents believe that teachers and administrators should be accountable for the quality of education, and urban, poor, and minority respondents strongly support a voucher system that would allow parents to choose their child's school; (3) special education programs are strongly supported, but there is disagreement between the elderly and blacks, urban residents, younger people, and women over child care programs; (4) while 33 percent of the respondents felt that too little was spent on public education, approximately half opposed higher taxes in their communities and would prefer to shift the tax burden to the state. Statistical data are included on 14 graphs. (FMW)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Policymakers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Wisconsin Policy Research Inst., Milwaukee.
Identifiers - Location: Wisconsin
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A