Survey Identifies Need for Marketing Strategy

A new poll commissioned by WEAC provides valuable insight into what public schools need to do to compete successfully with non-public schools. Because Wisconsin now leads the nation in school “choice” offerings, WEAC leaders believe that such information is critical to the future health of the state’s public schools.

“To remain vital, public schools must maintain their current high level of student enrollment, which is 86% of the state’s K-12 students.”

WEAC President
Terry Craney

“This is the first public opinion poll designed to help public school leaders develop a strategy to promote public schools in a school-choice environment,” said WEAC President Terry Craney. “It tells us what the public perceives as the strengths and weaknesses of the public schools.

“To remain vital, public schools must maintain their current high level of student enrollment, which is 86% of the state’s K-12 students,” Craney said.

The telephone survey – conducted last November by Talmey-Drake Research & Associates, Inc. of Boulder, Colorado – revealed public attitudes that are both reassuring and cause for concern. For example, when asked their impressions of public school teachers, two-thirds of parents and other adults surveyed volunteered either favorable or sympathetic comments. They used such terms as “dedicated,” “hardworking,” “underpaid,” “overworked,” “caring,” and “concerned about kids.”

The poll asked parents to name the most important qualities they would want in a school for their children or grandchildren. The most-often volunteered responses were a good academic curriculum, good teachers, safe schools and class sizes that allow individual attention.

However, when asked what first comes to mind when public schools are mentioned, only about half volunteered positive remarks. Among the positive impressions are good instruction, educational opportunity for all children, good resources, and diversity. The most often volunteered negative comments in-clude lack of discipline, overcrowding, taxes, and bad instruction.

An analysis of one question, which asked residents to grade their public schools, shows the effect of a steady flow of negative news on public opinion in the Milwaukee media market. Only 54% of the respondents residing in the suburbs of Milwaukee gave their public schools an A or B. By contrast, 72% of those surveyed in the densely populated counties of Dane, Brown, and Outagamie counties gave their public schools an A or B.

Milwaukee suburban public schools are of the same high quality as those in the Madison, Green Bay and Fox Valley regions. Yet, the constant stream of negative stories emanating from the Milwaukee news media about Milwaukee public schools seems to have had a spillover effect on the image of the suburban schools.

Further evidence of the wide gap between public perception and reality is also evident in the responses to a set of questions that sought to determine what people know about the public schools. The respondents were read a series of factually correct statements about Wisconsin public schools. Then they were asked if it is a strong or weak reason to attend a public school.

More than 60% agreed that a strong reason to attend public schools in Wisconsin is that “seniors have scored number one or tied for number one on the ACT college admission test.” Yet, when asked if they believe this statement to be true, only 30% said they believed that it was.

“Public perception lags far behind reality. One strategy is to design a media campaign that gives factual information about public school successes,” Craney said.