Poll: Parents fear kids falling behind
About a third not satisfied with how schools have handled pandemic
NEWPORT NEWS — Virginia voters have a mixed view of how schools have handled the pandemic, according to a new poll from Christopher Newport University.
On one hand, 64% of respondents with school-aged children said they were satisfied with how their children’s school has handled instruction this fall. But an even greater proportion of parents interviewed by The Wason Center for Civic Leadership say they’re concerned their children are falling behind. About 75% said they were either very or somewhat concerned.
“Parents are juggling work, care-giving responsibilities and helping their kids through virtual school,” Research Director Rebecca Bromley-Trujillo said in a news release announcing the results. “Most may believe their schools systems are doing the best they can, but it’s no surprise that so many are worried about their children’s progress.”
Emerging data suggests that parent concerns may be well-founded, though accurate information is still hard to come by.
Nonprofit testing organization NWEA, whose tests were taken by nearly 4.4 million students in grades 3-8 this fall, reported last month that it saw a 5-10 percentage point drop in math scores from last year. Reading scores overall were close to how other students did before the pandemic.
That data comes with some major caveats — about one in four students who took the test earlier didn’t take it this fall.
The Wason Center poll released Thursday was based on 906 voter interviews, surveyed between Nov. 8-22, as COVID-19 cases in the state were on an upswing and as some schools started reconsidering in-person instruction. About a third of respondents had children in school.
The vast majority of parents who responded to the survey said their children were learning at least partially virtually. About 56% of the parents in the survey said their children were only learning online and 27% said they were attending school in a hybrid model. As of Nov. 12, according to a snapshot from the Virginia Department of Education, 34 of the state’s 132 divisions were not offering any in-person instruction.
Another question on the survey asked about collective bargaining, which could have significant implications for education. In spring, the General Assembly passed a law letting localities and school boards decide whether to allow employees to join a union and negotiate a contract. Even without collective bargaining rights, teachers affiliated with Virginia Education Association and local units have played a major role in the reopening debate. In July, Peninsula VEA groups issued a joint statement calling for schools to open virtually, which nearly all of them did a few months later.
A majority of voters said in the Wason Center poll that they supported collective bargaining rights for public employees. About 46% said they supported the move, and another said they 22% strongly support it.
The survey also asked about the overall direction of the state. Voters were almost evenly split, with 48% saying Virginia was heading in the right direction and 47% in the wrong direction.
Gov. Ralph Northam’s approval rating slipped from a pre-election poll of likely voters done in September, when 53% of voters said they approved of how he is handling his job. About 47% said they approved and 46% said they disapproved in the November survey.
Only 39% said that the country was heading in the right direction. But that is a dramatic change from the September poll, when only 16% said it was. Most of the difference was among Democrats.