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		Past Extra Credits October 15 All issues

A survey conducted on October 11-12, 2004 by the Winston Group on behalf of Americans for Better Education shows that 62 percent of parents of public school children have a favorable view of No Child Left Behind. Also among the survey's findings:

• Americans from diverse backgrounds have a favorable view of No Child Left Behind: Overall, Americans tend to view NCLB favorably by a 58-28 margin.

• African-Americans view NCLB favorably by a 62-25 margin.
• Hispanics view NCLB favorably by a 54-24 margin.
• Parents with children in public schools view NCLB favorably by a 62-28 margin.

• Americans believe that accountability is more important than increased funding: People like the philosophy of standards and accountability. 61% believe that raising standards and accountability is more important than increasing funding (32%).

• Americans trust the accountability systems developed by their states by a 3 to 1 margin: People believe that the reason schools are being rated as underperforming is because they truly need help rather than that the standards are unreasonable (66-22).

• Nearly 3 out of 4 Americans believe the federal government should be able to hold states and local schools accountable for raising student achievement: 72% believe that the federal government should be able to hold states and schools accountable while only 25% do not.

• Nearly 3 out of 4 Americans are more concerned about children learning to read than children taking too many tests: 74% of Americans believe that children passing through schools without learning to read is a greater problem than students being forced to take too many tests (19%).

• No Child Left Behind is having an impact: 43% of Americans are aware of changes in their local schools resulting from NCLB—up from 33% in January 2004.