WBZ NEWSRADIO 1030 - Education Poll

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07:37am EST, 11/22/08

The Parent Report

Posted: Thursday, 24 July 2008 5:08PM

Education Poll

Doug Cope Reporting

Boston -- Today's Segment:

It's not much of a report card.

Half of Americans say U.S. schools are doing only a fair to poor job preparing kids for college and the work force, and kids are not learning the skills they need to survive as adults. Chuck Saylors, National president Elect of the PTA, says having better schools is not only needed for our future, but is good for the community and business...

Saylors feels parent’s want more math taught in schools, saying it's essential to thier children's future...

But Saylors says at the same time, arts should not be sacrificed in order to add more math and other practical subjects to the cirriculum...

The views of the general population echo concerns from business and college leaders, who say they have to spend a lot of time and money on remedial education for people who completed high school but don't have the skills to succeed at work or in higher education.

The survey said education ranks behind the economy and gas prices as a top issue for Americans. However, nearly all those polled said the quality of a country's education system has a big impact on a country's overall economic prosperity.

Education was generally viewed to be as important as health care and slightly ahead of the Iraq war. Americans have mixed views about standardized tests, which have grown in importance. The 2002 federal No Child Left Behind law judges schools based on math and reading tests taken by their students. Schools face increasingly tough consequences for scores that miss the mark.

About half of those polled said standardized tests measure the quality of education offered by schools well, while the rest disagree.

The vast majority thinks classroom work and homework, not standardized tests, are the best ways to measure how well students are doing.

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