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New UD education poll will help guide state policy, legislator says

Cheryl Ackerman (left), senior associate for evaluation at the Delaware Education Research and Development Center in CHEP, presents results of the poll on the condition of education in Delaware to state legislators in Dover.
6:13 p.m., April 28, 2004--The results of a new poll released today will help lawmakers determine how to fix the education system, state Rep. Bruce Reynolds, chair of the House education committee, said.

Cheryl Ackerman, senior associate for evaluation at the Delaware Education Research and Development Center in the College of Human Services, Education and Public Policy (CHEP) at the University of Delaware, presented the results of the annual poll on the condition of education in Delaware to a joint meeting of the House and Senate education committees.

“This is very important,” Reynolds said of the results. “It helps us focus on what needs to be changed; what needs to be tweaked.”

Reynolds was responding to a question from Margaret Crosby, a grandmother from Wilmington, who told the legislators that she had put her six children through public schools and wanted to see the system improved.

“The purpose of the poll is to determine public opinion on important education issues in the state,” Ackerman said. “Delawareans appear concerned about a variety of educational issues. Some are related to the effects of implementing the No Child Left Behind Act. Some are related to educating special-needs students--both those with disabilities and those identified as gifted. Others concerns include physical education and children’s health.”

The poll results show that 33 percent of the respondents feel that the state’s education funding priority should be to improve academic performance, particularly reading, writing and math. Only 13 percent identified hiring more teachers to reduce class size as the area most in need of funding.

The results show that the majority of Delaware residents favor improving struggling schools instead of moving students to already successful schools, and three-fourths support instituting full-day kindergarten programs throughout the state.

Most of the respondents awarded B or C grades to elementary, middle and high schools--more than in 2001.

“People are feeling a little bit better about their schools but not quite as good as the nation is feeling,” Ackerman said.

The results are based on poll responses from 938 residents--516 nonparents and 422 parents--who answered a variety of questions about the quality of education, students with special needs, early care and education, health and recreation, and educational accountability.

Less than half the people polled said they are familiar with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, but 72 percent were concerned with a requirement by the law that a single statewide test be used to determine if a public school is in need of improvement.

Compared to a nationwide sample, Delaware residents are more pessimistic about the likelihood that schools will make sure every student passes the state proficiency test by the 2013-14 school year, a requirement of the law. According to the poll, only 18 percent of respondents think the goal is very likely be achieved.

The full report is available at [http://webs.oet.udel.edu/rd/index.asp].

Article by Martin Mbugua
Photo by Greg Drew

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