Survey: Americans want high school reform By MATT KAPKO Bay City News Service June 22, 2005 Most Americans believe high schools are failing to prepare students for success in the workforce or college, according to a nationwide survey released today by the Educational Testing Service, or ETS. Some 76 percent of adults polled in the survey, "Ready for the real world? Americans speak on high school reform,'' said that the United States will be much less competitive in the global economy and less apt to achieve self-reliance if high schools don't see reform. "Clearly, Americans get it. It's time to get to work on high school reform,'' ETS President and Chief Executive Officer Kurt Landgraf said today in a bicoastal news teleconference announcing the survey's results. An overwhelming majority of those polled, 80 percent, said they would support more funding for increased teacher salaries even if it required tax increases, according to the survey results. Likewise, responders said they'd support higher taxes to boost high school funding, but the move would require more than merely convincing Americans to cough up more cash out of their paychecks. Only 16 percent of those polled said they're confident increased high school funding would improve education or even be spent accordingly, according to the survey. "All of us really need to do a better job,'' California Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said today in the teleconference. "We know the world is more challenging than ever before,'' he said. "We need to prepare our students and do a better job for our students...'' O'Connell added that it's no longer sufficient for California's public schools to focus on the achievements of college-bound students. Teachers and administrators need to focus on the needs of all of California's 6.5 million public school students, he said. Averaging the scores given by respondents, California's public schools are receiving a C grade, democratic pollster Peter Hart said today during the teleconference. "You can't be an A-class nation when you're schools are receiving a C grade,'' said Hart, who worked on the survey. "Education is still a sacred cow in American society,'' he said. "We've talked about reform, but for all the reform we've talked about the public has seen very little change.'' Despite Americans misgivings about public schools, 72 percent of those polled said their students' schools are a success. "Awareness is a mile wide, but it's about a centimeter deep as far as what people know'' about education reform, Hart said. But teachers and parents don't see eye to eye on what should be considered when measuring the success of high schools. The majority of parents polled said the high school education should enable students' success in secondary education or the workforce, republican pollster David Winston said during the teleconference. However, most high school teachers said students should become critically thinking adults and literate adults that can participate in American democracy in a meaningful way, said Winston, who worked on the survey. The pollsters conducted a nationwide survey of 2,250 adults, including a sample of 1,009 adults, from April 5 to April 17. Telephone surveys were also conducted on 300 high school administrators and 300 high school teachers. Home