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The Gallup Poll of Teachers' Attitudes
Toward the Public Schools
by Alec Gallup

Purpose of the Study

This is the first installment of the first Gallup/Phi Delta Kappa survey of the attitudes of U.S. teachers toward the public schools. The primary purposes of this survey were to determine teacher attitudes and to establish basepoint or benchmark measurements from which to track opinion trends in subsequent surveys. A secondary purpose was to compare teacher attitudes about key topics with the views of the general public, including parents of children enrolled in the public schools.

Just as with the other Gallup/PDK joint project -- the Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools -- this poll is valuable in at least two important ways. First, it alerts decision makers to teachers' reactions to a variety of school programs and policies. Second, it serves as a benchmark against which local attitudes can be measured.

Local officials are welcome to use questions asked in this survey. The questions are not copyrighted. Moreover, no limits are placed on the use of information contained in this report, beyond customary credit to source and observance of the canons of accuracy and completeness of quotation.

Funding for this survey was provided by Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. To be sure that the survey would deal with the issues of greatest concern to both educators and the public, Phi Delta Kappa solicited suggestions for questions from a wide range of leaders in the field of education.

The second installment of this survey of teachers will appear in the January 1985 Kappan. Some of the topics to be covered in that poll will be teachers' views on the curriculum, on several of the recommendations for education of the various national commissions and task forces, on the desirability of teaching as a profession, and on the effects of teacher unions on education. -- The Editors

Research Procedure

The findings of this survey come from mail interviews with a representative sample of U.S. teachers. From a list provided by Market Data Retrieval, a sample of 2,000 teachers was selected to reflect the total national population of teachers. The sample was stratified proportionately by region and by teaching level.

Questionnaires were mailed to the 2,000 teachers between 30 April and 9 May 1984. Six questionnaires were undeliverable, producing an effective mailing of 1,994 questionnaires. Of these, 813 (41%) were completed and returned.

To insure that the attitudes of nonrespondents were not significantly different from those of respondents, a telephone survey was conducted with a sample of 100 teachers who had not answered the mail survey. The results of the telephone survey showed that the sample of nonrespondents to the mail survey closely paralleled the sample of respondents -- both in terms of attitudes and in terms of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics.

Summary of Findings

Attitudes of American teachers are markedly uniform. Very few differences in attitudes are apparent among the nine subgroups in the teacher population by which the data were analyzed. Only in the case of elementary and high school teachers do differences in views emerge -- and then only rarely.

At the same time, the attitudes of teachers and the public are frequently at odds. Of the approximately 30 issues in the two installments of this teacher poll on which the opinion of the public is also available, teachers and the public agree on one-third of the issues and disagree on two-thirds.

Grading the schools. American teachers give high marks to U.S. public schools. Asked to grade the local public schools, using the traditional grading system, two-thirds of the teachers award the local schools either an A or a B. When asked to grade the school in which they themselves teach, an even higher percentage (72%) award an A or a B.

Grading teachers, administrators, school boards, and parents. The same favorable attitude is also apparent when teachers are asked to rate other members of the teaching profession; however, teachers are less positive about the performance of administrators in the public schools and about local school boards. Almost eight teachers in 10 (78%) would award their peers an A or a B, but substantially fewer would give administrators and school board members top grades.Teachers' grades for parents fall far below those they give to teachers, administrators, and school board members. Asked to grade the job that local parents are doing in bringing up their children, only one teacher in five gives parents an A or a B.

The U.S. public rates the performance of teachers considerably lower than the teachers rate themselves; only 50% of the public gives teachers a grade of A or B. (The public gives principals and administrators about the same rating as it gives teachers.) On the other hand, the public rates school boards somewhat higher than teachers do -- 41% of the public give school boards an A or a B, but only 29% of the teachers give them top grades. Thirty-three percent of the public give parents an A or a B -- the lowest percentage for any group rated, but still a good deal higher than the grades assigned to parents by teachers.

Teacher compensation. A major source of teacher dissatisfaction involves what teachers perceive as poor compensation. For example, nine teachers in 10 state that their salaries are too low. And almost nine in 10 say that low pay is the reason why teachers are leaving the profession. Similarly, when asked for ways to reduce school costs, only 5% react favorably to the idea of cutting teacher salaries. The public tends to agree -- but by a significantly smaller percentage -- that teachers are paid too little.

Merit pay. U.S. teachers, including all major subgroups in the teacher population, oppose the idea of merit pay by a 2-1 ratio. Teachers' objections to merit pay center on two main points: 1) the difficulties in evaluation (i.e., determining who should receive merit pay) and 2) the morale problems that might be created if merit pay plans were put into effect.

At the same time, however, fully three-quarters of U.S. teachers admit that some teachers in their own schools are outstanding enough to warrant merit pay. Asked to estimate the percentage of teachers in their own schools who deserve merit pay, teachers who favor merit pay say about 33%.

If merit pay were adopted by the local schools, teachers would want fellow teachers, administrators, or educators from outside the district -- rather than noneducators -- to decide who should receive it. Only about one-fifth of teachers feel that either students or parents should be involved in this decision.

Similarly, teachers feel that the criteria to be used in selecting candidates for merit pay should be 1) an evaluation by educators, either teachers or administrators, and 2) an advanced degree or years of experience. A relatively small percentage of teachers feel that students' academic achievement or improvement, students' evaluations of teachers, or parents' opinions should influence the awarding of merit pay.

The views of the public provide a rather dramatic contrast to the attitudes of teachers. The public favors merit pay for teachers by a ratio of 4-1 (76% to 19%). The public also feels that the most important criterion upon which to base merit pay should be the academic achievement or improvement of students as measured by standardized tests (68%). Only 39% of teachers agree.

Attitudes concerning some recommendations of the national commissions and task forces on education. The attitudes of U.S. teachers are mixed regarding the recommendations for improving the public schools that have been made by the recent wave of national commissions and task forces on education. By wide margins, teachers favor higher salaries for teachers and state board examinations to prove teachers' knowledge of subject matter. By a somewhat smaller margin, they favor tougher college entrance requirements. Unlike teachers, the public opposes tougher admissions standards for colleges and universities.

School discipline. U.S. teachers have a much different perception of the problem of discipline in the public schools than does the public. Teachers feel that the most important problem facing local public schools -- named by 31% of the respondents -- is lack of parental support, not lack of discipline. Only about one teacher in six (16%) says that discipline is a very serious problem in the local schools.

In addition, nonacademic disciplinary problems -- e.g., incomplete assignments, cheating, talking back to teachers, and truancy -- are mentioned frequently by teachers as occurring "most of the time" or "fairly often." A relatively small percentage of teachers say that criminal activities -- i.e., vandalizing or theft of property, use or selling of drugs or alcohol, carrying of weapons, physical attacks on students or staff -- occur in their schools "most of the time" or "fairly often."

The public's perceptions of discipline in the schools differ considerably from those of teachers, however. The public has named discipline as the most important problem facing the public schools since the Gallup surveys of attitudes toward the schools began in 1969. One-third of the public in 1984 -- compared to 16% of teachers -- believe that disciplinary problems in the local schools are very serious. Most significant, however, the public perceives violence and criminal activities as much more prevalent in the schools than teachers do. Far larger percentages of the public than of teachers, for example, say that a variety of these kinds of problems occur "most of the time" or "fairly often."

Teachers blame disciplinary problems on outside influences -- specifically, the courts, lack of respect for authority, and especially lack of discipline in the home, which is mentioned by virtually all teachers (94%). Only about one-third of the teachers feel that teachers themselves are at fault.

The public agrees, although by a smaller percentage than teachers, that the principal source of disciplinary problems is lack of discipline in the home. On the other hand, the public is more prone to blame teachers for disciplinary problems.

Testing. Teachers are divided on the value of public school testing programs. A slight majority oppose exams for grade promotion, and an even smaller majority favor exams for high school graduation. Two-thirds of those who approve of an exam for high school graduation feel that the results should be released to the public -- and compared with results from other schools that serve the same racial and socioeconomic mix.

The public's view differs markedly from that of teachers on the issue of testing. Although the public approves of an exam for high school graduation by a wide 7-3 ratio, only half of those who favor the exam also favor the release of results to the public and approve of comparing the results with those of other schools.

School prayer. Elementary teachers favor voluntary school prayer by a 2-1 ratio. High school teachers are much more closely divided on this issue than are elementary school teachers. The public approves of school prayer by a wider margin, 4-1.

Politics. Asked which Presidential candidate would be more likely to improve the quality of education in the U.S., teachers name Walter Mondale by a ratio of nearly 2-1, 42% to 25%. The U.S. public also feels that Mondale would be more likely than Reagan to improve American education, but Mondale's lead over Reagan on this issue is not quite as great with the public (42% to 34%) as with teachers.

Teachers Grade the Public Schools

American teachers give high marks to the U.S. public school system. Asked to grade the public schools in their community using the traditional A-through-F grading system, two-thirds of American teachers give the schools a mark of A or B. Only 4% give the schools a D, and 1% give them a failing grade. When asked to grade the schools in which they themselves teach, the percentage of teachers who give the schools an A or a B rises to 72%.

The question:

Students are often given the grades A, B, C, D, and FAIL to denote the quality of their work. Suppose the public schools themselves, in this community, were graded in the same way. What grade would you give the public schools here? How about the public schools in which you teach? What grade would you give your own school?

Teachers Grade Teachers, Administrators,
School Boards, and Parents

American teachers are even more positive about the performance of teachers than they are about the performance of the schools, with 78% awarding teachers an A or a B. However, this highly favorable attitude does not carry over to the performance of others involved in local education -- principals and other administrators, local school boards, or the parents of students attending the local schools.

Only 44% of teachers feel that the job done by principals and other administrators in the local schools deserves either an A or a B. Fewer than one teacher in three (29%) would award the local school board either an A or a B, with 13% giving it a failing grade.

At the bottom of the list are the parents of local schoolchildren, who receive an A or a B for their efforts from only one teacher in five (21%). A larger percentage of teachers (31%) give parents a D or an F.

The question:

What grade would you give the teachers in the local public schools? The administrators in the local public schools? The local school board? What grade would you give the parents of students in the local public schools for bringing up their children?

Teacher Opinion vs. Public Opinion

Although the grades the public gave the schools in 1984 were the highest recorded in a decade, they were still much lower than the grades the teachers give the schools. Almost two-thirds of American teachers (64%) give the local schools an A or a B; only about four in 10 (42%) of the general population did so.

Differences between the public's and the teachers' views also show up in the grades these groups award to teachers, administrators, local school boards, and parents. Although the public grades teachers somewhat higher than it grades the local schools, only 50% of the public give teachers a grade of A or B, a substantially lower figure than the 78% of teachers who give their peers an A or a B.

Although teachers grade administrators considerably lower than they do their peers, the U.S. public rates administrators about the same as it does teachers. On the other hand, the U.S. public grades both school boards and parents higher than American teachers do. Forty-one percent of the public give the school board an A or a B; only 29% of teachers do so.

Both the public and teachers rate parents the lowest. Only one-third of the public and 21% of teachers give parents a grade of A or B.

Teachers Grade Teacher Education

About half of U.S. teachers in every major subgroup of the teacher population would give the teacher education program they attended a grade of A or B. Collectively, 10% of teachers would award their teacher training programs a grade of D, and 6% would give their teacher training programs a failing grade.

The question:

What grade would you give the teacher education training you received?

Presidential Candidates

Asked which Presidential candidate, Ronald Reagan or Walter Mondale, would be more likely to improve the quality of education in the U.S., American teachers name Mondale by a ratio of nearly 2-1, 42% to 25%. About one-third say that there would be no difference between the candidates or have no opinion.

Although the American public also feels that Mondale would be more likely than Reagan to improve American education, the ratio is much smaller (42% to 34%).

The question:

Which Presidential candidate do you feel would be more likely, as President, to improve the quality of public education in the U.S. -- Ronald Reagan or Walter Mondale?

School Prayer

Elementary school teachers favor voluntary school prayer by roughly a 2-1 ratio. High school teachers are much more closely divided on the issue, favoring school prayer by 47% to 37%.

The American public approves of school prayer by a wider ratio (4-1) than teachers. At the same time, however, there has been some decline in public support for school prayer in recent years.

The question:

Do you favor or oppose a proposed Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would allow voluntary prayer in the public schools?

Attracting and Retaining Good Teachers

Slightly more than one-third of U.S. teachers (37%) report that their schools have had difficulty in attracting good teachers, and about half (48%) say that their schools have had difficulty in retaining good teachers. In both instances the percentage is higher for high school than for elementary teachers.

The question:

Does the school in which you teach have difficulty in getting good teachers?

The question:

Does the school in which you teach have difficulty in keeping good teachers?

Why Teachers Leave the Profession

Respondents were shown a card listing a number of problems that affect the teaching profession, and they were asked which three problems they feel are the main factors causing teachers to leave their jobs. Low salaries are by far the most frequently cited, with almost nine in 10 teachers (87%) mentioning this reason.

The question:

Many public school teachers are leaving the classroom. Here are some reasons that are sometimes given. Which three of these do you think are the main reasons why teachers are leaving their jobs?

Teacher Opinion vs. Public Opinion

The public, surveyed in 1982, differed from the teachers as to why teachers leave the profession. Only 52% of the public mentioned low teacher salaries as one of the main reasons why teachers leave; 63% cited discipline as one of the main factors.

Paradoxically, the public was much more likely than teachers to see parents' lack of interest in their children's progress as a reason for teachers to leave the profession. Twenty-five percent of the public mentioned this reason, but only 11% of teachers do. Similarly, 37% of the public said that lack of support from parents is one of the factors causing teachers to leave the profession, whereas only 21% of teachers cite this as a reason.

Teacher Compensation

Nine out of 10 teachers say that teacher salaries are too low; virtually none say that teacher salaries are too high.

The question:

Do you think salaries for teachers in this community are too high, too low, or just about right?

Teacher Opinion vs. Public Opinion

The public is divided almost evenly on the question of whether teacher salaries are too low or about right. Forty-one percent feel that teacher salaries are just about right, and almost as many respondents (37%) say that they are too low. Very few respondents (7%) think teacher salaries are too high.

Differential Pay in Subject Areas
With Teacher Shortages

A number of observers have suggested that more pay be given to teachers in areas of critical national need, such as science, mathematics, and vocational/technical subjects. Three-fourths of teachers oppose such a measure. The public is more evenly divided on this issue, with 48% in favor of differential pay and 43% opposed.

The question:

Today there is a shortage of teachers in science, math, technical subjects, and vocational subjects. If your local schools needed teachers in these subjects, would you favor or oppose paying them higher wages than teachers of other subjects?

Merit Pay

American teachers oppose the idea of merit pay by a 2-1 ratio, 64% to 32%. This ratio is consistent across all major teacher population subgroups.

The question:

How do you, yourself, feel about the idea of merit pay for teachers? In general, do you favor or oppose it?

Reasons for Favoring/Opposing Merit Pay

Teachers oppose merit pay for two basic reasons: 1) the difficulty of evaluating teacher performance and 2) the morale problems that merit pay might cause.

About one-fourth of the teacher respondents (23%) say that it would be difficult to give a fair evaluation of teaching. Twelve percent say that administrators could not give objective evaluations, and the same percentage say that teacher merit cannot be measured objectively at all.

About 12% of the teachers say that merit pay would create morale problems in their schools, and another 8% say that it would present political problems in the schools.

The question:

Why do you favor/oppose merit pay for teachers?

What Percentage of Teachers Deserve Merit Pay?

Although U.S. teachers tend to oppose merit pay, three-quarters of them say that some teachers in their own schools deserve merit pay.

The question:

Aside from whether you favor or oppose merit pay, do you feel there are any teachers in the school where you teach who are sufficiently outstanding to warrant merit pay, or not?

(IF FAVOR MERIT PAY) What percentage of teachers do you feel warrants merit pay?

Who Should Determine Which Teachers Receive Merit Pay?

Almost two-thirds of the U.S. teachers (63%) say that a committee of teachers should determine which teachers receive merit pay. Next most frequently mentioned as potential decision maker is the school principal (57%), followed by a committee of outside educators (42%). Only about one teacher in five wants the decision to be made by either students or parents.

The question:

Suppose that your own school were to adopt the merit pay plan. Who, in your opinion, should determine which teachers should be given merit increases?

Teacher Opinion vs. Public Opinion

The views of the public differ dramatically from those of teachers on the issue of merit pay. The public favors merit pay for teachers by a ratio of 4-1.

Two-thirds of the public (68%) believe that academic achievement or the improvement of student performance as measured by standardized tests should be one of the criteria used to determine which teachers receive merit pay. Only 39% of the teachers agree. But 66% of the teachers feel that other teachers in the system should be involved in the evaluation of teachers for merit pay, while only 48% of the public agree.

Major Problems Confronting the Public Schools

U.S. teachers say that the biggest problem confronting the public schools is parents' lack of interest and support (31%). The next most frequently mentioned problems -- all cited by about one teacher in five -- are lack of proper financial support, lack of interest or truancy on the part of pupils, and lack of discipline.

These responses are fairly consistent across all teacher population subgroups. One difference is that 35% of elementary school teachers mention parents' lack of interest, while only 26% of high school teachers mention this problem. On the other hand, 23% of high school teachers mention pupils' lack of interest or their truancy, while only 17% of elementary teachers do so.

The question:

What do you think are the biggest problems with which the public schools in this community must deal?

How Serious Is the Discipline Problem?

Whereas about one-third of the public (34%) feel that discipline is a very serious problem in the schools, only 16% of the teachers agree. About one-third of both groups see the discipline problem as fairly serious. Nearly half of the teachers see the problem of discipline as not too serious (35%) or not at all serious (14%), but only about a quarter of the public agree with these judgments.

The question:

How serious a problem would you say discipline is in the public schools in your community -- very serious, fairly serious, not too serious, or not at all serious?

Perceived Incidence of School Problems

Teachers differ markedly from the general public in their judgment of which of the problems confronting the schools are most important. The comparison is especially revealing with regard to criminal activities, which the public feels occur far more frequently than teachers do.

For example, 53% of the public feel that drugs are used at school "most of the time" or "fairly often." Only 17% of teachers agree. Almost half of the public (47%) but only 13% of the teachers think that drugs are sold at school "most of the time" or "fairly often."

About one-third of the public feel that alcoholic beverages are drunk at school "most of the time" or "fairly often," that school property is stolen "most of the time" or "fairly often," and that knives, firearms, and weapons of other kinds are carried at school "most of the time" or "fairly often." Teachers report that these criminal activities take place much less frequently: drinking, 10%; theft of school property, 23%; carrying weapons, 8%. However, teachers and the public are in closer agreement on how often such disciplinary problems as cheating, not completing homework, truancy, and so on occur.

The question:

About how often do each of the problems listed occur at the school where you teach?

Reasons for Discipline Problems

Respondents were shown a list of potential reasons for discipline problems in the schools and asked to select those that they felt best explained why disciplinary problems exist. Teachers look outside the school for reasons to explain the disciplinary problems. For example, more than nine in ten (94%) say that lack of discipline in the home is one important reason for disciplinary problems in school, 74% cite lack of respect for law and authority throughout the society, 66% mention student troublemakers who cannot be removed from school, and 65% say that the courts have made administrators too cautious in dealing with student misbehavior.

The U.S. public tends to agree with teachers that lack of discipline in the home is the main cause of disciplinary problems in the schools. But the public mentions outside influences, including the home, less often than teachers do, and the public is much more likely to say that teachers are in part the cause of disciplinary problems -- that teachers do not command respect, that teachers are not properly trained to deal with discipline problems, and that teachers fail to make classroom work interesting.

The question:

Many people say that "discipline" is one of the major problems of the public schools today. Would you please look over this list and check the reasons you think are most important to explain why there is a discipline problem?

Support for Public School Testing

U.S. teachers are decidedly ambivalent about the merits of standardized achievement tests both for grade promotion and for graduation from high school.

Teachers are opposed to promotion from grade to grade on the basis of examinations; 43% say that they favor such tests, and 52% oppose them. They are more evenly divided on the question of a nationwide examination for high school graduation; 48% favor such a test, while 45% oppose it. Of the 48% who favor an examination for high school graduation, two-thirds feel that the outcomes should be released to the public, and virtually all favor comparing the exam results with those of other schools serving similar clienteles.

The question of testing for grade promotion is one of the few instances in this survey in which we found significant differences of opinion between elementary and high school teachers. Elementary teachers oppose an examination for grade promotion by a ratio of almost 2 to 1, while high school teachers favor promotion on the basis of an examination score by a margin of roughly 5 to 4.

Once again, teachers' attitudes are in stark contrast to those of the general public, which has for many years supported the notion of using standardized tests both for grade-to-grade promotion and for high school graduation. In the 1984 survey of the public's attitudes toward the public schools, the general public supported both of these uses of tests by a margin of about 3 to 1.

The question:

In your opinion, should children be promoted from grade to grade only if they can pass examinations?

The question:

Should all high school students in the United States be required to pass a standard nationwide examination in order to get a high school diploma?

Remedial Classes or Repeating a Grade

Teachers are opposed to having a student repeat a year's work if that student fails a subject. Three-quarters of the teachers (78%) favor having such a student take special remedial classes in the subject he or she failed; only 13% would prefer having the student repeat the whole year.

In 1978 the public was in virtual agreement with our 1984 sample of teachers on how to treat failing students. Four-fifths of the public would have had such students take special remedial classes rather than repeating the subjects they fail.

The question:

Should students who fail be required to take special remedial classes in the subjects they fail, or should they be required to repeat the whole year's work?

Raising College Entrance Requirements

Many educators have argued that raising the entrance requirements of colleges and universities would be an effective way of inducing the public schools to raise their standards. Teachers in this survey favor this proposal by a small margin (47% to 39%).

The general public, however, does not agree. The public has always favored tougher standards at the high school level, but it rejects, by a margin of 59% to 27%, the raising of college entrance requirements.

The question:

Do you feel that four-year colleges and universities should raise their entrance requirements or not?

A State Board Examination for Teachers

Approximately two-thirds of the teacher respondents say that they would favor a state board examination to prove their knowledge in the subjects they plan to teach. The U.S. public even more strongly favors the idea of a state board examination for teachers. Eighty-nine percent of the public support the idea.

The question:

In addition to meeting college requirements for a teacher's certificate, should those who want to become teachers also be required to pass a state board examination to prove their knowledge in the subjects they will teach, before they are hired?