Dive Brief:
- Only 35% of Americans are satisfied with the K-12 education system — a record low since Gallup began polling on the subject 26 years ago. Some 62% say they are at least somewhat dissatisfied, and 73% also say that schools are headed in the wrong direction.
- The low level of satisfaction marks an 8-percentage-point drop since last year and is even below the previous historical lows recorded in 2000 and 2023, according to Gallup results released on Wednesday.
- However, a reverse trend is seen when looking only at parents with children in the K-12 system. There, about 74% say they are at least somewhat satisfied with their eldest child's education, and only 23% say they are dissatisfied to some extent.
Dive Insight:
Parents have been broadly satisfied with the quality of their own children's education since at least 1999, when Gallup first began polling on the issue. Over those 26 years, parent satisfaction has averaged about 76%.
Parents cite teachers and curriculum as the driving factors behind their high ratings of the education system, the Gallup report said.
Likewise, parents are also more likely than Americans in general to say they are satisfied with how well schools prepare children for the workforce and college — but still, just 30% say they are satisfied with the former and only 41% say they are satisfied with the latter. For Americans more broadly, those statistics are lower, at 21% and 33% respectively.
"Public confidence in U.S. K-12 education has eroded further, as Americans express record-low satisfaction with the system's quality and most say it is headed in the wrong direction," Gallup researchers said about the findings.
The drop in satisfaction among U.S. adults was largely driven by Democrats and Independents following President Donald Trump's return to the White House, the Gallup report said. At 29%, Republican satisfaction almost equaled last year's 31%.
"Since 2009 when Barack Obama became president, satisfaction with the quality of K-12 education among those from the president’s party has usually risen," said Megan Brenan, senior editor at Gallup, in an email to K-12 Dive. "On the other hand, satisfaction among those from the opposing party has generally fallen."
Americans across the political spectrum, meanwhile, say K-12 education is headed in the wrong direction. Survey respondents cited curriculum, inferiority of U.S. education compared to that of other countries, and a lack of teaching basic subjects as driving factors behind their dissatisfaction, said Brenan.
For its two questions on satisfaction with the public education system, Gallup surveyed 1,094 U.S. adults and 215 K-12 parents in August. All other results were based on online surveys completed the same month by 2,132 U.S. adults and 572 K-12 parents.
