Public Opinion

Reform Agenda Gains Strength: The 2012 EdNext-PEPG survey finds Hispanics give schools higher grade than others do. William Howell, Martin West , Paul Peterson. Education Next, 13(1). Winter 2013.

In the following essays, we 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 (for survey methodology, see sidebar). Highlights include

The Education Iron Triangle. Martin R. West, Michael Henderson, Paul Peterson. The Forum: Vol. 10: Iss. 1, Article 5. 2012.

Do teachers and the public disagree on education reform? We use data from a nationally representative survey conducted in 2011 to identify the extent of the differences between the opinion of teachers and the general public on a wide range of education policies. The overall cleavage between teachers and the general public is wider than the cleavages between other relevant groups, including that between Democrats and Republicans.

Meeting of the Minds. William G. Howell, Paul E. Peterson, Martin R. West. Education Next, 11(1), 20-31. Winter 2011.

Democrats and Republicans in Washington, D.C., are more polarized today than they have been in nearly a century. And among the general public, party identification remains the single most powerful predictor of people’s opinions about a wide range of policy issues. Given this environment, reaching consensus on almost any issue of consequence would appear difficult. And when it comes to education policy, which does a particularly good job of stirring people’s passions, opportunities for advancing meaningful policy reform would appear entirely fleeting.

The Persuadable Public. William Howell, Paul E. Peterson, Martin R. West. Education Next, 9(4), 20-29. 2009.

What do Americans think about their schools? More important, perhaps, what would it take to change their minds? Can a president at the peak of his popularity convince people to rethink their positions on specific education reforms? Might research findings do so? And when do new facts have the potential to alter public thinking? Answers to these questions can be gleaned from surveys conducted over the past three years under the auspices of Education Next and Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance (PEPG).

The 2008 Education Next-PEPG Survey of Public Opinion: Americans think less of their schools than of their police departments and post offices. William Howell, Martin West , Paul Peterson. Education Next, 8(4), 12-26. 2008.

Americans clearly have had their fill of a sluggish economy and an unpopular war. Their frustration now may also extend to public education. In this, the second annual national survey of U.S. adults conducted under the auspices of Education Next and the Program on Education Policy and Governance (PEPG) at Harvard University, we observe a public that takes an increasingly critical view both of public schools as they exist today and, perhaps ironically, of many prominent reforms designed to improve them.

School Vouchers in the United States: Productivity in the Public and Private Sectors. Paul Peterson. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft - Journal of Educational Science, ZfE 11, 2:253-267, ZfE 11, 2:253-267. 2008.
What Americans Think about Their Schools: The 2007 Education Next - PEPG Survey. William Howell, Paul E. Peterson, Martin R. West. Education Next, 7(4), 12-26. 2007.