Polling American K–12 School Parents About COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting all of our lives in unique ways. Our team has been adapting some of our work to be more responsive to the extraordinary times we are living in right now. One of our goals is to inform policymakers, stakeholders and the public about school choice programs and to better understand choice in the larger context of American K–12 education. That context has gone through a seismic shift during recent months.

In partnership with Morning Consult, we surveyed American K–12 school parents about how COVID-19, which we also refer to as “coronavirus,” has affected their lives and their children’s education.

These results are part of a new, larger polling project that we will launch soon: the EdChoice Public Opinion Tracker. This new dashboard will update the first week of each month (or quarter depending on surveyed population) with the results of a much broader public survey with questions not only on COVID-19 but also on K–12 education topics, such as schooling, testing, spending and school choice.

Many organizations are conducting and sharing surveys about the societal effects of the coronavirus pandemic; however, few have focused on how it’s affecting K–12. In a rapidly changing environment for decision-making and adaptation, we understand time is of the essence for more real-time, descriptive reporting.

Below are results for 13 questions based on our most recent survey, conducted April 10 and 11 among 510 parents of school-age children—part of a larger nationally representative sample of 2,201 adults.

For more information about our new ongoing project and methodology, please email Paul DiPerna at paul@edchoice.org.