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American schools should be focusing more on preparing students for careers and the workplace and less centered purely on academics and standardized tests, so say the results 聽of the longest-running poll of Americans鈥� attitudes toward public education.

Released Monday, the 49th annual PDK International Poll shows strong majorities 鈥� 82 percent of respondents 鈥斅爏aying schools should offer job or career skills classes 鈥斅爀ven if it means less time spent on academics 鈥斅燼nd that it鈥檚 highly important for schools to help students with interpersonal skills, like teamwork and persistence.

An even larger number, 86 percent, say schools should offer certificate or license programs.

鈥淐learly something is missing from schools and classrooms that people want to see in those schools,鈥� said PDK CEO Joshua Starr. 聽鈥淚t鈥檚 missing in the policy level, it鈥檚 missing in the day-to-day experience that kids have.鈥�

When it came to performance on standardized testing, just 42 percent see it as a highly important indicator of school quality, including the 13 percent who call test scores extremely important. The survey said every other potential metric of school quality outranked testing in the view of respondents: having extracurricular activities, art and music classes, advanced academic classes, technology and engineering classes, and developing students鈥� interpersonal skills.

At the same time, 66 percent of those polled say schools should be held accountable for test results as well as for academic skill results. 鈥淓ven if skills are imperfectly assessed,鈥� the poll states, 鈥渢hese results suggest, accountability still is in demand.鈥�

Respondents are also supportive of wraparound services for struggling students, things like afterschool care and mental health services that educators frequently say are key to academic success. Three-quarters of those who answered the poll say schools are justified in seeking additional money to provide those services to students in need.

About a quarter, 24 percent, say they would give the country鈥檚 schools an A or B, a number that is mostly flat over the last few years. They gave higher ratings to local schools in general, with 49 percent awarding them top grades, and parents rating their own children鈥檚 schools best of all, with 71 percent awarding an A or B.

(麻豆精品: 90% of Parents Think Their Kids Are on Track in Math & Reading. The Real Number? Just 1 in 3, Survey Shows)

The poll for the first time asked Americans about diversity in schools, and found that while respondents think it鈥檚 important, that value only extends so far.

鈥淧eople value diverse schools as long as they don鈥檛 have to work for it,鈥� said Starr, the former schools superintendent in Montgomery County, Maryland and Stamford, Connecticut.

Slightly more than half, 55 percent, say racial or ethnic diversity in schools is extremely or very important. Black and Hispanic respondents were much more likely to say diversity is important, at 72 percent and 57 percent, respectively than white respondents, at 48 percent.

Despite that support for more diverse schools, only 25 percent of respondents say it would be worth sending their children to a more diverse school that was further away than one that was closer to home and more homogeneous.

An advisory board of education advocates picks the general topics for the annual poll, and this year thought diversity and wraparound services would be good additions, Starr said.

Continued opposition to private school choice

The PDK poll, begun in 1969, has long asked about support for voucher programs, and support has historically not been strong.

When asked 鈥淒o you favor or oppose allowing students and parents to choose a private school to attend at public expense?,鈥� 52 percent of respondents opposed the idea and 39 percent favored it.

Support for private choice was higher among nonwhite respondents, voters age 18 to 29, and Republican or conservative voters.

Opposition to private choice rose when researchers asked further questions that said a private choice program would only cover part of tuition at private or parochial schools, or that a program could either 鈥渋mprove public schools by making them more competitive鈥� or hurt them 鈥渂y reducing their funding.鈥� 聽

But opposition on a policy level didn鈥檛 translate to opposition on an individual one: if cost and location were not a factor, 34 percent of parents would choose a public school, 31 percent a private school, 17 percent a charter and 14 percent a religious school.

Other recent polls have found greater support for private school choice programs, and support varies widely by how the question is worded.

(麻豆精品: What Do Americans Think of School Choice? Depends on How You Ask the Question)

PDK has been criticized for the wording of that question in the past. Starr said the question is 鈥渁s neutral as possible and as descriptive as possible鈥� and said it鈥檚 important to keep the same wording year after year to get accurate trend data over time.

In this year鈥檚 , for instance, 55 percent of respondents supported a tax-credit scholarship program while support for charter schools dropped 12 percentage points. The poll results will be examined at in Washington, D.C.

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Support for four variations of an EdNext question on vouchers ranged from 28 percent, for universal vouchers paid for by government funds, to 43 percent just for low-income students in a question that emphasized giving families a wider choice.

Researchers for PDK International conducted the 50-state poll of 1,588 adults, in English and Spanish, via landlines and cell phones, in May. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for all adults, and 5 percentage points for parents.

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