In a poll undertaken for the Next America project by the National Journal magazine and the College Board, 53 percent of all respondents indicated that the schooling their children receive is sufficiently preparing them for college. Hispanics were the most optimistic about local K-12 education, with 64 percent saying students were being prepared for achieving success in college, compared to 60 percent of African-Americans and 55 percent of Asian Americans. Only 50 percent of Whites said local K-12 schools were adequately preparing children for college.
“First, we see that faith in local schools does persist. A majority of adults said they believed the elementary, middle, and high schools in their area are preparing young people to perform college work successfully,” said National Journal editorial director Ronald Brownstein, noting “strikingly that faith is greater among African-Americans [and Hispanics] than among Whites.”
Last week, the Washington-based National Journal released survey results on American attitudes about education and opportunity from the latest College Board/National Journal Next America poll in a survey series originally launched in 2012. The poll was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates, which surveyed 1,271 adults this past March on a range of issues, including education and the economy. The College Board, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Annie E. Casey Foundation funded the poll.
“Getting to the heart of what we were looking at in this poll, we asked people to reflect on their own educational and employment choices through their lives, and then draw out from that some of the conclusions they [have] about public policy,” Brownstein said last week during “The Next America: Points of Leverage” public forum in downtown Washington at which he presented poll results.
Forum speakers, including U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, discussed the potential of childhood, teen and young adult interventions for helping disadvantaged youths attain education to become socially and economically productive adults. The need for helping children with early childhood programs and with helping them to develop solid social skills along with academics was emphasized.
Focusing his remarks on the highlights of the College Board/National Journal Next America poll, Brownstein drew attention to poll questions, to which respondents had similar responses across racial and ethnic lines and to a question asked in previous Next America polls.
