Poll: Parental involvement best way to help schools, respondents say
Increasing parental involvement is a better way to improve New Jersey public schools than providing vouchers for school choice, reforming teacher tenure or spending more, New Jersey voters said in response to a new poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind.
Some 71 percent said requiring more parental involvement would result in a "major improvement" to the quality of New Jersey's schools — and 70 percent said a lack of parental involvement is a "major" obstacle to learning for kids in the K-12 public school system, according to a press release issued by Fairlegh Dickinson University's PublicMind.
Asked what reforms would help the most to reform education in the state, the idea of giving parents vouchers for school choice ranked last, at 40 percent. Some 52 percent said reforming tenure for teachers was the answer, while 53 percent cited a need for more funding for education.
"Although it's common to hear system failures, such as ineffective teaching, as the biggest source of education ills in the state, the public seems to think otherwise," said Krista Jenkins, director of PublicMind and professor of political science at Fairleigh