New Orleans Public Schools - Surveys of Public Opinion

Surveys of Public Opinion

The reforms imposed upon NOPS in the wake of Katrina proved to be extremely popular with the public, despite the policy's criticism from observers such as Klein. A recent survey conducted by Tulane University's Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives indicated that the state's takeover of NOPS and the subsequent spread of independent public charters are viewed with overwhelming approval, by both parents of students and by citizens in general. Specifically, a poll of 347 randomly selected Orleans Parish voters and 300 randomly selected parents of children in the NOPS system indicated that 85% of parents surveyed reported they were able to enroll their children at the school they preferred, and 84% said the enrollment process was easy - findings that surprised the researchers. Furthermore, 82% of parents with children enrolled at public charter schools gave their children's schools an "A" or "B", though only 48% of parents of children enrolled in non-chartered public schools assigned A's or B's to the schools their children attended. According to the survey, clear majorities of parents and voters overall do not want the Orleans Parish School Board to regain administrative control of NOPS. However, the Times-Picayune's story failed to inform readers that the Cowen Institute is itself an advocate of charter schools, and is listed as a "Key Partner" of New Schools for New Orleans, a charter school advocacy group. Because of this conflict of interest and because of allegations of bias in the wording of the Cowen Institute's questions, its survey may possess questionable validity.