Guest Blog: U.S. Superintendents Excited About Their District's Future
This post originally appeared at
www.gallup.com/poll/217088/superintendents-excited-district-future.aspx
and is posted here with permission.
Guest Blog by Tim Hodges, Gallup
Download the full report for free here: www.gallup.com/reports/217103/gallup-k-12-superintendent-report-201708.aspx
K-12 students returning to class this fall are being
welcomed back by leaders who are optimistic about the future of their school
district. Eighty-five percent of U.S. public school district superintendents
agree or strongly agree that they are excited about their district's future.
These attitudes are largely unchanged from 2015, when 86% responded positively
to the same question.
While school leaders are largely positive about their local
situation, this optimism is much harder to find in their opinions of the
overall K-12 public education system. About one in three superintendents agree
or strongly agree that they are excited about the future of U.S. public
education, down sharply from 44% just two years ago. The percentage who either
disagree or strongly disagree is up from 24% to 38%, with those most negative
about the future of the nation's public school system increasing from 6% to
15%.
Several factors influence leaders' opinions about the future
of education. The latest Gallup survey of superintendents suggests that the
most pressing challenges facing school districts are changing.
In the past four years, concern has risen among school leaders
about improving the academic performance of underprepared students, and this is
now the top concern of those tested. Fiscal challenges remain a significant
source of concern for superintendents, as was the case in 2013. Superintendents
also report high levels of concern about the effects of poverty on student
learning (a question asked for the first time in 2017). Complete results for
all issues tested this year appear at the end of this article.
At the same time, concern about meeting rising demands for
assessment from the state and federal level has moved down in the rankings.
Possibly related to this, revamping curriculum is also less of a concern for
school leaders than it was in 2013 -- a time when the Common Core State
Standards and new federal legislation increased attention on student
assessments.
Bottom Line
Public school superintendents begin the new school year
optimistic about their own local district, although they are less confident in
the nation's schools overall. Local district leaders still struggle to manage
difficult fiscal situations and are increasingly focused on the challenges of
reducing achievement gaps for underperforming students and addressing the needs
of students in poverty. These and other challenges will continue to have the
attention of leaders as the nation's students return to school.
About the Study
Gallup developed this research study of K-12 superintendents
of public school districts in the U.S. to understand their opinions on
important topics and policy issues facing education. Since 2013, Gallup has
conducted the survey at least annually. The 2017 report addresses a variety of
issues, including:
- the
workplace engagement of superintendents
- human
capital needs in the district, such as recruiting, selecting and retaining
talented teachers and principals
- factors
in teacher performance evaluations
- federal,
state and local education policy issues
- superintendent-board
relations
The full report is available for download here.
SURVEY METHODS
This survey is an attempted census of U.S. public school
district superintendents. Gallup used a purchased sample list of 12,432 K-12
school districts across the U.S. to email their superintendents to invite them
to participate in a web survey. Gallup conducted 2,326 web interviews from June
15-July 9, 2017, achieving a 19% response rate. The sample of superintendents
was weighted to correct for possible nonresponse bias by matching the obtained
sample to targets for all U.S. school districts from the National Center for
Education Statistics database on district enrollment, geographical region and
location of the district in a city, suburb, town or rural area. The weighted
sample thus can be projected to represent public school district
superintendents nationwide.