State Policy Network
Poll Results: What are parents thinking about education?

By Katherine Bathgate, Senior Policy Advisor at State Policy Network

2020 has been a year unlike any other in recent education history. School closures amid the coronavirus hit parents hard as they scrambled to navigate options to ensure learning continued for their children. Some families were able to access online learning relatively quickly while others picked up paper packets for their children to complete at home. Other children received little-to-no instruction during this time. Now, parents are trying to figure out what the 2020-21 school year will look like and how to help their children learn under challenging conditions.

In June, SPN conducted a nationwide poll through Heart + Mind Strategies to learn what K-12 parents experienced in the spring, assess their thoughts for the upcoming school year, and explore what policies they would like to see put in place that would allow their children to receive a quality education going forward. Here are some of the key findings:

Spring results were mixed at best and parents shouldered the burden of distance learning:

As parents think about the upcoming school year, many parents are considering change and/or are uncomfortable sending their children back to school:  

Support for school choice has grown:

Parents favor policy ideas that technology and empower families:

As states navigate another unprecedented school year, these results provide valuable insights on what parents expect and how they can ensure learning continues in a way that puts students and families first.

The findings from the poll are below. The nationwide poll was conducted June 16 – June 25, 2020 of 1,000 parents of school-aged children.


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Organization: State Policy Network