Poll: A "C" Grade at Best

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A large majority — 89% — of Americans think the high school dropout rate is an "extremely serious" (42%) or "somewhat serious" (47%) problem in America, according to a TIME magazine/Oprah Winfrey Show poll. Here are the major results of the poll:

Grading U.S. Public Schools: If the public were grading U.S. public schools, 61% said they would give them a grade of a "C" or worse: 44% would give the schools a "C," while 10% gave them a "D" and 7% an "F." Another 31% would give schools a grade of "B," while only 5% woudl award a straight "A."

Witholding Driver’s Licenses: About two-thirds — 65% —of Americans feel that when students younger than 18 choose to leave school, the state should be allowed to deny them driver’s licenses until they turn 18, according to the poll; 32% feel driver's licenses should not be denied. When asked if a state should deny a child work permit, 64% responded "no," while 33% responded "yes."

Parental Involvement: When asked whether offering training to parents on how to keep their children in schoolwould be an effective measure for increasing high school graduation rates, a large majority — 87% — agree, with 50% saying it would be "very effective" and 37% saying "somewhat effective." Only 12% feel it would not be effective. A little less than half — 45% — said it would be an effective measure to penalize parents of students who don’t finish high school.

Lowering Academic Standards: In the poll, 78% said that lowering academic standards to increase graduation rates would not be effective in keeping kids in school. Twenty percent feel it would be an effective measure.

No Child Left Behind: About five years after Congress passed President Bush’s No Child Left Behind act, 57% say they know either "a great deal" (17%) or "some" (40%) about the measure, according to the TIME/Oprah Winfrey Show poll. Almost a third of those polled (29%) said they know "not much" about it, and 14% say they know "nothing at all."

Taxes: According to the poll, 64% of Americans think we are spending too little money on public schools; 22% think we are spending about the right amount; and 10% say too much. More than half — 59% — would be willing to pay higher taxes to improve public schools, while 38% would not be willing.

A majority — 88% — of respondents to the TIME/Oprah Winfrey Show poll feel that students should be offered a vocational education option in high school to prepare them for work immediately following high school.

The TIME/Oprah Winfrey Show poll was conducted by telephone between March 28-30, 2006 among a national random sample of 1,000 adults, age 18 and older throughout America. The margin of error for the entire sample is approximately +/- 3 percentage points. The margin of error is higher for subgroups. Surveys are subject to other error sources as well, including sampling coverage error, recording error, and respondent error. Schulman, Ronca, & Bucuvalas (SRBI) Public Affairs designed the survey and conducted all interviewing. The full TIME/Oprah Winfrey Show questionnaire and trend data may be found at: www.srbi.com.