Although a brief for the value of national standards, this survey affirms that public knowledge of local school performance facts is key to grassroots action.
Our findings reveal that when respondents learn how their local schools rank in comparison to the performance of schools elsewhere in the state or in the nation as a whole, they become more supportive of school choice proposals, such as making school vouchers available to all families, expanding charter schools, and giving parents the power to trigger changes in their local school.