Annual Summit on Education
As charged by the PDK mission to promote high-quality education as essential to the development and maintenance of a democratic way of life, PDK hosts an annual Summit on Education. Each year, the PDK summit facilitates serious, thought-provoking dialogue about sustaining public schools, provides professional development opportunities for members and nonmembers alike, and offers a setting for networking and collegiality among educators.

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Walk for Education^SM
The annual PDK Walk for Education shines a spotlight on education as a vital, dynamic, essential enterprise and allows local teams around the world to raise money for their own community-based education projects and for the PDK Educational Foundation. The International Walk takes place at the PDK International Summit on Public Education; however, local walks may be scheduled to meet local community needs.

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National Polls
The PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools

For almost four decades, Phi Delta Kappa International and the Gallup Organization have been surveying the public about their attitudes toward the public schools. The poll results are widely reported—in the Phi Delta Kappan, on the PDK website, and in the national news media. Each year, educators across the country use the results to inform planning and action in their communities.

The PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools began as the joint brainchild of Charles F. Kettering II, founder of CFK Ltd., and Edward Brainard, former director of the grants division of the Kettering Foundation and first president of CFK Ltd. They asked George Gallup, Sr., what he thought of conducting an annual education poll, and he enthusiastically endorsed the project.

In 1969, Stanley Elam, then editor of the Phi Delta Kappan, summarized the results of the first of these polls. Brainard asked Elam if the Kappan would be interested in publishing the entire text of the report of the second poll, and these reports have become a standing feature of the magazine ever since. Beginning with CFK Ltd., a variety of funders have contributed to the support of the poll over the years. In 2004, however, the Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation became the sole funder of the PDK/Gallup Poll.

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A Voice from the Middle
The NASSP/PDK Middle School Student Poll

In 2007 PDK International partnered with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) to survey seventh- and eighth-grade students about their middle school experience, their aspirations, and the transition to high school. The poll was supported by the KnowHow2Go campaign of the Lumina Foundation and was conducted by Harris Interactive, an international leader in market research and consulting.

The goals of this national poll include bringing the student voice to the forefront in the national dialogue on school reform, drawing the attention of policymakers and the public to the academic needs and aspirations of students in the middle grades and to the critical transition between middle school to high school, helping the public understand the effects of increased accountability on middle-level students, informing educators about strengths and weaknesses in middle-level schooling as seen through the eyes of students, and providing a roadmap for changes needed to improve middle-level education.

Learn more about the Middle School Student Poll