Students walk through the hallway at a high school during the first day of classes in September 2021 in Novi, Michigan. Photo: Emily Elconin/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Americans have drastically shifted some priorities on K-12 education since the start of COVID, a new study by Populace reveals.
Why it matters: There's new pressure to change the existing model. Preparing students for college has fallen from 10th highest priority to 47th.
The big picture: Americans have a warped understanding of what the majority prioritizes in education.
Dive in: The pandemic greatly disrupted K-12 education. But more Americans (55%) want schools to rethink how best to teach kids rather than just get back to the way things were before COVID (34%) — even as they assume society cares more about the latter.
How it works: Populace uses unique polling methods to better gauge what people really think about important issues versus what they assume everyone else wants.
By the numbers: The top five privately-held priorities, according to the survey, were:
Methodology: The survey was conducted for Populace by YouGov between September 12-30, 2022 among a nationally representative sample of 1,010 U.S. adult respondents. The respondents were asked to choose between various educational priorities, and then asked how they thought most others would choose.
