Reports

Reports


This research brief examines Americans' views of teaching about different types of families in primary and secondary schools.

This brief focuses on Americans’ perceptions of groups’ credibility and legitimacy in the context of the coronavirus outbreak: Business leaders, healthcare providers, international organizations, medical scientists, nationally elected officials, religious leaders, and state and local elected officials.

A large majority of Americans support teaching primary and secondary school students about global warming and climate change, according to new findings from The Public Matters: How Americans View Education, Psychology and Health, a public-survey project at Teachers College.

This survey paints a portrait of today’s education activists. It found that certain groups – liberals, women, blacks, college-educated, parents and young people – are more politically active than others around education issues.

This new survey indicates that the appetite for community schools is strong. The national, online survey of about 3,000 adults, released August 9th, shows that a majority of Americans approve of schools that offer integrated educational, social, health and community services to students and families.

This research brief extends our understanding of public views of American higher education. Since their inception, American universities and colleges have been charged both with enabling talented individuals to advance through higher education and with enhancing the quality of American life through scientific discoveries and the invigoration of the American economy. To what extent do Americans believe these promises have been met?

This research brief examines Americans' views of stakeholders in education: parents, teachers, teacher unions, academic researchers, business leaders, and think tanks. Whereas in the past only elected officials were considered legitimate policy actors, today there are more groups of people competing to shape education policy. But we know very little about which stakeholders are seen as credible by the public, and why.

Citizen preferences play a key role in a democracy, and there is a substantial body of work that tries to understand the role that public preferences play in the policy process. Despite the important role public opinion plays, there are only limited efforts to document public opinion about education, psychology, and health. The Public Matters project seeks to address this gap by providing reliable, valid public opinion data to inform public debate. The Project includes a series of public opinion surveys on a variety of issues related to governance, policies, and practice that have the potential to affect human development.

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