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What We Learned from Polls of Parents and School Board Members
So what accounts for the shift in parental sentiment? We can only speculate. First, we must acknowledge every issue has a shelf life. It's only normal that the issues that contributed to packed school board meetings last fall would eventually move off the front pages.
The results of last fall's school board elections also likely had an impact. Could the conservative shift in the composition of school boards have helped to tamp down controversies in various districts? That's possible. Finding the reasons for the shift are important and certainly worth more investigation.
How well are school board members representing the views of those who helped elect them? It depends. In many areas, parents and school board members shared the same sentiments. There were areas in which their views diverged dramatically. Parents were more optimistic about the future than school board members; school board members gave school boards higher grades than parents; more board members also said schools were more politicized than parents. Moreover, while it was the majority view of both groups, a much larger majority of school board members said parents have a legal right to medical and psychological information about their child.
These findings are useful for many reasons. It's helpful for assessing the influence of parents and the effectiveness of school boards. It is useful in helping to map policy positions, assessing the strength of ideologies and strategies for aiding policy development and implementation. Considering how the views of school board members and parents converge and diverge can do much to improve the governance of our schools, boost parental satisfaction with our schools, and ultimately lead to better schools. For those reasons, policymakers, parents, and the public would do well to review these pages.
Methodology
The School Board Member survey was conducted April 25-May 3, 2023, with 112 North Carolina school board members. North Carolina school board members were interviewed via email-to-web invitation. No demographic weighting occurred. The margin of error for the school board member poll was +/- 9.2 percent.
The Parents survey was conducted April 25-27, 2023, with 520 North Carolina school parents. The parents were interviewed via an online panel. This survey sample was lightly weighted to reflect a representative sample of the population. The margin of error for the school board member poll was +/- 4.3 percent.
Go Back
The results of last fall's school board elections also likely had an impact. Could the conservative shift in the composition of school boards have helped to tamp down controversies in various districts? That's possible. Finding the reasons for the shift are important and certainly worth more investigation.
How well are school board members representing the views of those who helped elect them? It depends. In many areas, parents and school board members shared the same sentiments. There were areas in which their views diverged dramatically. Parents were more optimistic about the future than school board members; school board members gave school boards higher grades than parents; more board members also said schools were more politicized than parents. Moreover, while it was the majority view of both groups, a much larger majority of school board members said parents have a legal right to medical and psychological information about their child.
These findings are useful for many reasons. It's helpful for assessing the influence of parents and the effectiveness of school boards. It is useful in helping to map policy positions, assessing the strength of ideologies and strategies for aiding policy development and implementation. Considering how the views of school board members and parents converge and diverge can do much to improve the governance of our schools, boost parental satisfaction with our schools, and ultimately lead to better schools. For those reasons, policymakers, parents, and the public would do well to review these pages.
Methodology
The School Board Member survey was conducted April 25-May 3, 2023, with 112 North Carolina school board members. North Carolina school board members were interviewed via email-to-web invitation. No demographic weighting occurred. The margin of error for the school board member poll was +/- 9.2 percent.
The Parents survey was conducted April 25-27, 2023, with 520 North Carolina school parents. The parents were interviewed via an online panel. This survey sample was lightly weighted to reflect a representative sample of the population. The margin of error for the school board member poll was +/- 4.3 percent.
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