Are parents an untapped resource in improving and reimagining K-12 education in Kansas City? What do they think would enhance student learning and what are they willing to do to help their children get the education they deserve? These are among the questions explored in an in-depth survey of 1,566 parents with children now in public school in the…

Over the past 15 years, federal, state, and local officials have pursued a broad range of reforms aimed at ensuring that the nation's public school system is more accountable--that it delivers a rich, full education for children in communities across the country. New research from the Kettering Foundation and Public Agenda suggests that there…

The rationale for taking bold action on the nation's persistently failing schools can be summed up in one dramatic and disturbing statistic: half of the young Americans who drop out of high school attend just 12 percent of the nation's schools. Ending the cycle of failure at schools is a daunting challenge and a surprisingly controversial one.…

Surprisingly, given the level of leadership anxiety about math and science education in the United States today, national research conducted by Public Agenda shows that the number of parents who worry about whether local schools are teaching enough math and science has declined since the mid-nineties. In 1994, 52 percent of parents said that it…

This is the fourth in a series of reports from Reality Check 2006, an ongoing set of tracking surveys on education issues. Reality Check surveys attitudes among public school parents, students, teachers, principals and superintendents on a regular basis. In surveys on education, it is not uncommon for the public, parents and teachers to see…

Public Agenda was asked by the Nebraska State Board of Education and the Nebraska Department of Education (referred to hereafter as the State Board and the NDE) to help design and implement a public engagement process that would allow a cross-section of the state's citizens to comment on the central ideas contained in the document "Equitable…

Too many students are losing critical opportunities for learning,and too many teachers are leaving the profession because of the behavior of a few persistent trouble makers. What?s more, say teachers, today?s misbehaving students are quick to remind them that students have rights and their parents can sue. These are some key findings in this…