 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
“No
Child Left Behind” – Leaders
Unimpressed
According
to a just-released survey, Valley
business and community leaders see a
lot to be desired in the Bush
Administration’s “No Child Left
Behind” Act.
The Valley Influentials Poll
surveys members of Valley Leadership,
East Valley Partnership, Greater
Phoenix Leadership, and Westmarc in an
effort to understand the opinions of
business and community leaders in
metropolitan Phoenix.
A recent iteration of the poll
asked respondents, “Overall, what
effect would you say that the “No
Child Left Behind” Act has had on
the state of education in America?”
About half of Valley leaders (49%) do not see
perceive any effect of the “No Child
Left Behind” Act.
Looking to the remaining 51%
who feel the Act has impacted
education in America, we find a
significantly larger proportion
believing the impact has been negative
(31%) than believe the impact has been
positive (20%).
These results clearly do not
speak highly for the “No Child Left
Behind” Act.
Even among Valley leaders, who
politically have always skewed
Republican, a full 80% believe the Act
has either damaged education or had
impact whatsoever. Even
Republicans Unhappy Not surprisingly, there are significant
differences between the perceptions of
Democrats and the perceptions of
Republicans regarding Bush’s attempt
at educational reform.
Fewer than one-in-ten (9%)
Democrats believe the “No Child Left
Behind” Act has improved education,
while the proportion of Republicans
believing the impact has been positive
is more than three times this (32%).
The fact that Republicans are
more apt to support the initiative of
a Republican Administration is not
surprising.
What is surprising, however, is
the watery level of support the Act is
receiving from this core group of
Republicans.
Even among Republicans, a full
68% feel that the “No Child Left
Behind” Act has had either damaged
education in America (22%) or has had
no effect (46%). |
|
|
About
the Poll. The O’Neil Associates
Valley Influentials Poll is a web-based
survey that was sent to all members
of Greater Phoenix Leadership, Valley
Leadership, East Valley Partnership,
and Westmarc. As such, this survey
does not purport to be a random or
representative sampling of the general
population of the Phoenix metropolitan
area. It would be difficult, however,
to conceive of a more comprehensive
representation from which to draw
inferences about the opinions and
sensibilities of business and community
leaders than the combined membership
of these organizations, although,
inevitably, any definition of influentials
is somewhat subjective. The persons
surveyed are likely to exert disproportionate
influence on and be an early indicator
of community opinion by virtue of
their position, community involvement,
and political participation. The O’Neil
Associates Valley Influentials Poll
was not sponsored or paid for by any
outside organization. 308 participants completed the survey
between July 15 and August 2, 2004,
yielding a margin of error of
±5.7%.
O’Neil Associates, Inc. is a Tempe-based
public opinion research firm specializing
in client-focused attitude and awareness
studies for a wide variety of industries
and organizations. |
|
|
FOR
RELEASE: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 (VIP
034-2004-05)
FURTHER INFORMATION: Michael O'Neil,
Ph.D., 480-967-4441 ext. 221 These
results may be reported freely provided
that they are identified as the “O’Neil
Associates Valley Influentials Poll”
including identification on any graphic
material. |
|
|
|
O’Neil
Associates has tracked public
opinion across the Valley, Arizona,
and the Nation since 1981. To
be healthy, public debate must
be informed—this is why we commit
our resources to measuring opinions
on the political and social
issues people care about and
talk about. O’Neil Associates,
however, is much more than
that. While the Valley
Influentials Poll and
Valley Monitor
may be our most publicly visible
activities, we do most of our
work for private businesses
and organizations as well as
state and other public agencies.
As a full-service research firm,
we assist our clients with a
broad range of research efforts
to measure customer satisfaction,
improve customer service, fine-tune
public images, focus marketing
campaigns, engineer products,
increase market shares, strengthen
employee relations, and plan,
refine, and assess business
strategies. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|