Public opinion research

New poll on all-day kindergarten

Some 65 percent of Ohioans agree that all school districts should be required to offer all-day kindergarten, a new poll for Ohio Education Matters shows. (Details of poll findings are available here.)

Polls on Ohio's education reform plan

Those who hope to spark progress in education need to know what the public thinks about and wants from its education system. Our collection and analyses of polls provide a way for those interested in education issues in Ohio to keep abreast of public opinion and gauge changes in attitudes and priorities.

February 2010: Some 65 percent of Ohioans agree that all school districts should be required to offer all-day kindergarten, a new poll for Ohio Education Matters shows. 

July 2009: While voters still approve of the job Gov. Ted Strickland is doing by 46-42 percent, budget problems took a toll on his rating, according to Quinnipiac University poll. 

May 2009: A poll by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and Catalyst Ohio revealed that nearly two-thirds of Ohio adults didn't know the state's school funding system has been ruled unconstitutional.

March 2009: A School Funding Matters poll found that Ohioans strongly supported many components of Gov. Ted Strickland's education reform plan, but that general awareness of the proposals and support for how he'd pay for them were low.

February 2009: Ohio voters supported the overall education plan Gov. Strickland laid out in his State of the State address in this poll from Quinnipiac University.

December 2008: Quinnipiac University found that voters' views were mixed on how to improve Ohio's education system. Fifty-five percent said spending in poor districts should be increased, but voter were split on whether they would support a tax increase to provide that funding.

October 2008: As Gov. Ted Strickland and the General Assembly prepared to take up the issue of how public schools must change to meet the needs of the 21st century during the biennial budget process, and in the midst of the most unsettling economic news in decades, the importance of education remained a priority for Ohioans, according to a School Funding Matters poll.

May 2007: A statewide survey of Ohio voters showed that the public believed the state system of funding public schools was broken and needed to be fixed. A Policy Report from KnowledgeWorks discusses the findings.

Ohio's Education Matters polls

Beginning in 2000, KnowledgeWorks Foundation conducted a series of statewide polls about education that chart how strongly Ohioans believe in public schools and their concerns about what students are learning. These annual polls reveal that citizens make public education a high priority for state spending, have confidence in their local schools and worry about whether today's young people are being adequately trained for the workplace.

Results are available through annual reports provided online and also in a searchable data center.