Dive Brief:
- National Assessment of Educational Progress scores are going up and dropout rates are falling, yet the public has a negative perception of the nation's education system, according to Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell.
- Rampell looks at a recent Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll, finding that over the past four decades, respondents are more likely to say students are getting a "worse education" than they did.
- Beyond just a disconnect between public opinion and the actual realities of public ed, Rampell points to a divide when it comes to perception of one's own school and the public education system at large.
Dive Insight:
According to the Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll, while 67% of public school parent respondents would give their child's school an "A" or a "B," only 17% would grade public schools nationally with an "A" or a "B."
This disconnect is what Rampell refers to as “Fenno’s paradox.” Popularized by political scientist Richard Fenno Jr, the theory argues that while Americans may hate Congress, they like their own Congressman. The same goes for schools. Citizens may feel negatively about public ed at large, but like their own schools. Bridging that perception gap seems like an important step, since so much policy is dictated by this potentially false belief that there is, in fact, an education crisis.