JSU Fall 2014-4 Report

Respondents were asked how a school board or system should measure its own success.
Most respondents suggested graduation rates (64.0%) and student test scores (60.7%).
Results are presented in the following table in declining order.
How Do You Measure School Success? USA South MS w/Children
Graduation rates 64.0 55.5 60.1 63.2
Student test scores 60.7 63.3 69.8 61.7
Teacher qualification / accomplishments 39.7 28.9 41.6 38.5
Scholarships awarded 22.6 23.4 20.6 22.7
Unsure 10.3 10.9 9.6 9.4
Respondents were presented with a number of statements about the quality of local school
systems. A large majority, 82.4%, agreed (strongly or somewhat) that if moving with
children, the move would be based largely on local public school quality.
Each was asked to indicate if they strongly agreed, somewhat agreed, somewhat disagreed or
strongly disagreed with the following statements. The following table presents the
cumulative totals for those indicating they strongly or somewhat agreed with each statement.
Characteristic USA South MS w/Children
If I was moving and had 82.4 82.0 90.4 85.6
young children, I would
make the move based
largely on local public
school quality
I see a connection between 81.6 75.8 89.4 83.6
crime and public school
drop-out rates
Many times, based on 77.9 78.9 73.8 79.6
education funding levels,
children in lower income
communities are at an
education disadvantage
If I was moving and had pre-
K children, I would avoid a
school district that didn’t
fund public Pre-K education
62.7 64.8 62.1 65.1
Institute of Government Polling Center Page 15