WASHINGTON, DC — As America's children head back to school, Americans' satisfaction with the quality of their K-12 education has risen seven points from last year's low to 43 percent. That's a notable improvement for the share of U.S. adults who say they are completely or somewhat satisfied, but a majority, 55 percent, still say they are completely or somewhat dissatisfied.
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Gallup has tracked the index annually since 1999. The latest results, from a poll conducted Aug. 1-20, found that Americans are close to the trend average of 45% satisfied with the quality of education their K-12 students receive.
Currently, 9% of Americans say they are completely satisfied with the quality of education American students receive from K-12, and 34% say they are somewhat satisfied. Conversely, 21% say they are completely dissatisfied and 34% say they are somewhat dissatisfied.
The recent increase in satisfaction with this metric is seen across most major demographic subgroups, including Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents, Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents.
Republican satisfaction with the quality of K-12 education hit an all-time low last year and rose 8 points this year to 33%, while Democrats' satisfaction rose 9 points to 53%. The 20-point satisfaction gap between Democrats and Republicans is the largest of any demographic subgroup.
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Satisfaction among parents of elementary, junior high and high school students is declining
Satisfaction among parents of K-12 students with the quality of K-12 education in the U.S. is consistent with that of adults across the U.S., with 44% saying they are completely or somewhat satisfied and 55% saying they are completely or somewhat dissatisfied. Unlike all adults, satisfaction among K-12 parents has not improved much over the past year.
As has been the case consistently for the past 25 years, parents of school-age children are far more likely to express satisfaction with the quality of their own children's education than the U.S. education system as a whole. In the latest poll, seven in 10 parents of K-12 students say they are completely (31%) or somewhat (39%) satisfied with the education their oldest child is receiving, while about three in 10 say they are completely (9%) or somewhat (20%) dissatisfied.
Currently, 70% of parents are satisfied with their children's education, down from the trend average of 76% since 2001. Parent satisfaction has fallen 10 points in the past two years.
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Increased parental safety concerns
In another question in the poll, 44% of U.S. adults with children in kindergarten through high school said they were worried about their oldest child's personal safety at school, a figure that matches the most recent high recorded in 2022, three months after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Historically, parental concerns about their children's safety while at school have increased following other high-profile school shootings, such as Columbine High School in 1999, Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018.
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Conclusion
At the start of the 2024-2025 school year, a majority of Americans remain dissatisfied with the quality of K-12 education in the United States, although satisfaction has increased slightly over the past year. Just under half of Democrats are satisfied with the quality of education in the country, while only one in three Republicans are satisfied.
Parents of elementary, middle, and high school students are much more satisfied with their children's education than with the national education system. Yet parent satisfaction with their children's education has dropped significantly over the past two years. At the same time, parental anxiety about their children's physical safety at school remains at its highest level in this trend, exceeded only by anxiety levels following the first mass school shooting 25 years ago.
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