Education
gets mixed marks
Poll: New
Jerseyans like local schools but also support vouchers
Monday, September 06, 2004 • BY JOHN MOONEY
• Star-Ledger Staff
Most New Jersey residents
like their local public schools, but less so the general
condition of public education in the state.
They support the No Child
Left Behind Act, but don't want to rely too heavily on the
standardized tests that are the law's trademark.
And while most support
their public schools, a majority also supports extending
families more school choices, including the use of
vouchers.
Those are among the
findings of the most recent Star-Ledger/Eagleton-Rutgers
Poll that surveyed 800 adults earlier this summer. New
Jersey residents were asked their opinions on public
education in general and more specifically topics such as
charter schools and vouchers.
"We support our schools,
but also the idea of school choice," said Patrick Murray,
acting director of the poll. "If the schools aren't doing
well, people feel they should have a choice to educate their
children in a good school."
Overall, 61 percent of the
residents polled said their local schools were doing a good
or excellent job, compared to 29 percent who said fair or
poor. Among parents of school-aged children, the support
rose to 66 percent.
But of New Jersey's public
schools in general , the support dropped to 53 percent and
those classifying schools as fair or poor rose to 37
percent.
Those marks are largely
unchanged in the past decade, and Murray said the generally
positive response about one's own schools continues to be
clouded by a persistent perception that schools in the
state's biggest cities are still struggling.
"People see the quality of
schools as still so uneven," Murray said. "I think they are
generally pleased, particularly in the suburban areas. The
urban areas, it's a different story."
The poll was conducted in
late July and August and has a sampling error of 3.5
percentage points.
Its findings are
consistent with national polls asking similar questions. A
recent Gallup Poll found 47 percent of respondents giving
their own schools an A or B, but as few as 26 percent giving
the same grades to the nation's schools.
Much attention has been
given to the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the 2002 law
enacted by President Bush and Congress that requires schools
to make steady and specific gains in their students'
performance.
In the Eagleton poll, 63
percent of New Jersey residents said the law's approach was
a good idea, and 42 percent said the law would improve
schools in the state, far outdistancing those who said it
would either weaken or make no difference.
But when asked whether
standardized tests should be the sole measure, more than
half said that was unfair. Murray said the answers reflect
how much of the public is still learning the intricacies of
the new law.
"Right now, what we have
is a lot of people unaware of what (the law) means," Murray
said. "It sounds like a good idea and sounds like we are
making schools reach certain standards. Yet when you look at
the nitty gritty, a lot of people don't feel that
standardized tests are adequate ways of measuring a
student's or school's improvement."
Among those surveyed,
18-year-old Sarah Puccio has seen both sides of school
testing as a recent graduate of Kittatinny Regional High
School in Sussex County. On her way to her first year at
Northeastern University in Boston this fall, Puccio
remembered her eighth-grade year when the state first
instituted its middle school test.
"Teachers floundered and
all of a sudden had to stop teaching what they were best at
and had to start teaching to a test," the Stillwater
resident said. "We stopped doing really dynamic things in
class and started taking practice exams, learning how to
beat this or that section of the test."
But she was also one of
those who thought the No Child Left Behind Act was a good
idea and would improve schools, putting some attention on
kids who maybe weren't reaping the same benefits she
received at Kittatinny.
"It points us in the right
direction," Puccio said. "There is a good sense of
accountability in No Child Left Behind, and it says that it
is not acceptable for a high number of students to be
consistently below average in testing. But I just think
there should be a little flexibility, too."
The poll also found strong
support for hot-button issues like school vouchers and
charter schools, with some conditions.
Among those aware of the
independently run charter schools, 44 percent said these
schools were better than traditional public schools,
compared to just 11 percent who said worse. And 54 percent
supported using publicly funded vouchers to allow low-income
students to attend different schools, public or private,
compared to 37 percent opposed.
But to both practices,
neither thought they would do much to improve public
education in general. David Barabas was among the
skeptical.
The 61-year-old architect
from Montclair and father of two grown children said he
supports the job that his local schools and schools in
general are doing, although he worries that the money is
still not evenly distributed.
But he also said what will
help education the most is not what happens in the
schoolhouse but what happens at home, a sentiment backed by
the poll. Fifty-one percent said parents bear the most
responsibility for a child's education, compared to just 12
percent saying teachers do.
"The biggest payoff comes
from involved parents, but that's hard to mandate," Barabas
said. "The teachers can only be held accountable for what is
taught, not necessarily the effectiveness of
it."
John Mooney covers education. He may be reached at
jmooney@starledger.com, or (973) 392-1548.
Copyright 2004 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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