The majority of respondents did not have school-aged children. Only 22.5% of respondents reported having school-aged children who attend public school, while 4.8% attend private school and 1.1% are home-schooled. Regardless of whether respondents had school-aged children or if they had children in public schools, all residents surveyed were asked to rate the quality of their local public school system. About 10% reported that their public school system was excellent and another third (35.1%) reported their school system was good. Still, 29% rated their local public school as fair and another 18.2% rated it as poor.
Ratings of the public schools varied by city and whether respondents had school-aged children or not. Virginia Beach respondents had the highest percentage of excellent and good ratings (67.3%) for the quality of the public school system in the area. By contrast, Norfolk had the lowest ratings, with less than half of that percentage (28.7%). Portsmouth (32.6%) and Hampton (35.6%) also had lower percentages of excellent/good ratings. Second to Virginia Beach, although with a substantially lower percentage of excellent/good ratings, was Chesapeake (51.8%), followed by Newport News (43.2%) and Suffolk (41.9%).
When looking at the perceived quality of local public schools for those with school-aged children and those without school-aged children, respondents with school-aged children tended to have a more positive perception of the quality of local public schools, with 56.3% considering them to be good or excellent, compared to 45.6% of those without school-aged children.
Respondents were asked how important standardized tests are in evaluating the quality of a school and over two-thirds believe standardized tests are important (23.9% very important and 37.5% somewhat important). One-third of respondents either felt that standardized tests are not very important (20.3%) or not at all important (14.1%) in evaluating the quality of a school. Respondents were also asked to indicate what they believe is the primary purpose of public education, and 38.7% reported that helping students develop as critical thinkers and lifelong learners is the primary purpose of public education. Twenty percent of respondents believe public education鈥檚 primary purpose is to prepare students to meet academic standards and 15.5% believe the public schools should be primarily focusing on preparing students to perform well on state tests.
Interestingly, respondents with school-aged children were less likely to think that standardized tests were either very or somewhat important compared to those without school-aged children. Although the difference between the two groups was not significant, almost two-thirds of those without school-aged children (65.9%) believed that standardized tests were very or somewhat important, compared to 59.4% of those with school-aged children.
When we compare what respondents believe is the primary purpose of public education by whether they have school-aged children or not, the most commonly selected answer, "to help students develop as critical thinkers and lifelong learners," was chosen more often by those without school-aged children (41.2%) compared to those with school-aged children (32.1%). Another notable difference was in the response that the primary purpose of public education is "to prepare students to perform well on state tests," which was chosen by 20.2% of those with school-aged children, compared to only 13.7% of those without. 鈥淭o prepare students to meet academic standards鈥 was chosen by 23.3% of those with school-aged children compared to 19.1% of those without. Those without school-aged children were more likely to choose 鈥渙ther,鈥 with 6.3% selecting this option compared to 1.6% of those with school-aged children. Many of the 鈥渙ther鈥 responses were critical of public education as indoctrinating students to certain political viewpoints or teaching them to submit to government control.
We also asked residents of Hampton Roads what change in education they would most support. Thirty-eight percent of respondents indicated support for a greater focus on job readiness and workforce skills, while 17.6% indicated more focus on creativity, curiosity, and love of learning would be the change in education they would most support. Seventeen percent of respondents would most support smaller class sizes and more individualized attention, and 12.5% wanted greater support for student well-being, identity, and social-emotional development.
Volunteerism
Respondents were asked about their volunteer activities during the past year. Volunteer activities were defined as those for which they were not paid (except for things like expenses) and done through or for an organization, even if only done once in a while. Respondents were asked about those activities that were done through a church/religious organization, or non-profit or charitable organization, for example. Just under half of respondents (46.3%) indicated that they had done some sort of volunteer activity in the past year. Respondents who reported not having engaged in volunteer activities (n=385) were asked a follow-up question. This question encouraged them to consider any infrequent volunteer work they might have done, for example, through local schools or youth organizations. Among these respondents, 15.9% acknowledged participating in such volunteer activities. Thus, just over half of respondents (54.9%) reported engaging in some type of volunteer activity.
