This poll was conducted between September 16-17, 2022 among a sample of 2,200 adults. The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of adults based on gender, educational attainment, age, race, and region. Among the key findings are: (1) About a third of parents believe their child's school is…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, face masks have been widely used in daily life. Previous studies have suggested that faces wearing typical masks that occlude the lower half of the face are perceived as more attractive than face without masks. However, relatively little work has been done on how transparent masks that reveal the lower half of the…

This article investigates educational preferences in the bilingual education system that reinforce the salience of both socio-economic and socio-cultural issues. We ask, first, how many distinct groups of educational preferences exist and whether these differ by ethnic nationality. Second, we investigate the extent to which economic self-interest…

Research indicates that there is a discrepancy in academic outcomes between students attending school in urban environments and those attending school in suburban environments. While educational reform efforts have focused on providing in-school academic interventions, they often do not consider variables that address well-being, nor are they…

Humor is widespread in communication and its use in the context of science is no exception. Although science jokes are pervasive on social media, we are only beginning to understand the mechanisms through which humor affects people's attitudes, opinions, and perceptions of scientific topics. Here, we add to our understanding of how funny science…

How is knowledge pertaining to science best transferred to the public in order to bolster support for science-based policy and governance, thereby serving the common good? Herein lies a well-recognized challenge: widespread public support arguably requires a widespread understanding of science itself, but this is naturally undermined by the…

Distance education, also called distance learning, e-learning, and online learning, is a practice of teaching and learning in which teachers and learners are not in a closed class or room in person, but where education takes place through various new-media technologies and all parties (student-teacher, teacher-teacher, student-student) are able to…

Frames shape public opinion on policy issues, with implications for policy adoption and agenda-setting. What impact do common issue frames for racial equity in education have on voters' support for racially equitable education policy? Across survey experiments with two independent representative polls of California voters, framing effects were…

Public Agenda surveyed Illinois residents to learn about how they view public higher education and what would help it serve them and the state better. Three research briefs highlight key findings from the broader survey findings. This brief finds that 46% of Illinois residents do not have a post-secondary credential and are not currently enrolled…

With the growing popularity of computational thinking (CT) classes in K-12 schools, it is important to investigate public perceptions of these initiatives. Analyzing public discussions and opinions provides valuable insights that can inform future educational policies and reforms. In this paper, we collected questions and answers related to CT…

Lawmakers are debating a bill to add Wisconsin to the growing list of states banning K-12 students from using cell phones in schools during instructional time. Of the 309 districts and charter schools responding to a recent survey, most already restrict student cell phone usage to common areas, with smaller districts tending to favor more…

Teachers' perceptions, attitudes, and opinions about students, curricula, or evaluation methods contribute to the development of students' talents. Thus, researchers often collect data from teachers to identify gifted students, determine educational practices to meet the students' needs and assess gifted education programs. Researchers often…

Two major sets of U.S. content standards have changed since 2010: the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Whereas the CCSS received widespread pushback, the NGSS were broadly uncontentious. Why? Drawing from policy learning and networked publics theories, we used mixed-effects modeling to estimate how…

Coursework in civics teaches collaboration--an indispensable skill in a democracy--as well as critical thinking. Knowledge about and understanding of civics is especially important in California, where voters regularly make major policy decisions through the initiative process. To understand how the public thinks about civics issues, Public Policy…

Recognizing writing as a powerful form of political resistance, in this article the authors demonstrate how reconstructive discourse analysis (RDA) can be used to make visible how one individual used public media writing to advance movements of educational justice. Combining RDA with theories of argumentation and positioning to analyze an op-ed…