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By Tom Breen CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - West Virginians are tough critics of their public schools, but offer high marks for local involvement in education, according to a new study. The state was one of four places chosen for the pilot program of a national study designed to create a "civic index" measuring community support for public schools. West Virginia is the first to release its findings. The index, which tracks public perception of education issues, found that West Virginians highly rate the involvement local businesses have with schools. Residents are also generally proud of their community's support for public education. They're hard on the progress schools are making, though, with only 27 percent saying their local schools have improved in the past five years, and only 8 percent saying schools have improved "a lot." The index has 10 categories ranging from the performance of elected officials on education to the involvement of parents in schools. It was designed for the Washington, D.C.-based Public Education Network, which plans to use the index throughout the country as a way to measure how the public sees local education. West Virginians gave the highest marks to how "tolerance and inclusiveness" are handled by schools, and gave favorable ratings to local school boards and the news media's reporting on education. Ratings for the involvement of civic organizations and elected officials were lower. The state has some unique features, according to Joshua Ulibarri, vice president of Lake Research Associates, the Washington, D.C., firm that conducted the study. West Virginia has one of the oldest populations in the nation, meaning that education is less of a priority for many state residents. West Virginians also rank education behind the economy, health care and gas prices in importance, the study noted. "We need to do a better job as education advocates of linking education to jobs and the economy and health care and these other issues," Ulibarri said. West Virginia also ranked high in how residents viewed the participation of local businesses in public education. Ulibarri said that was probably due largely to a concerted effort by the Education Alliance in Charleston to link local businesses with individual schools. The survey data was released at a conference in Charleston that included representatives from local businesses and nonprofit organizations involved with public education, including the Education Alliance. "Our schools and neighborhoods don't work so well when community bonds don't exist," said Becky Cain Ceperley, president of the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation, which worked with the Education Alliance and the Public Education Network in preparing the study. The results were based on interviews conducted with 600 residents in February and March. The other three places where the National Civic Index on Public Education pilot program was tested were Seattle, Denver, and the Monongahela River Valley in Pennsylvania. Those results have yet to be released. |
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