ANNUAL POLL 2024-25 - Parents’ and Guardians’Opinions on K-12 Public Education in New Orleans - The Cowen Institute Poll Policy Brief No. 2 - December 2024

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Callum

Annual Poll 2024-25 presents results of a fall 2024 survey of 1,000 Orleans Parish public and private school parents and guardians and a small number of homeschool parents, assessing views on K-12 education in a decentralized New Orleans system. The brief summarizes executive findings and trends by topic, including policy changes, cell phone bans, FAFSA graduation requirements, postsecondary plans, high school course preferences, employment considerations, and life after high school. It also details methodology, sampling error, and demographic breakdowns shaping responses.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Executive Summary

Methodology

Demographics

Key Findings

Policy Changes

Direct Run Schools

Cell Phone Bans

FAFSA Requirement

Postsecondary Education

High School Courses

Trends by Socioeconomic Status

ANNUAL POLL 2024-25 Parents’ and Guardians’Opinions on K-12 Public Education in New Orleans The Cowen Institute Poll Policy Brief No. 2 December 2024 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Cowen Institute has conducted annual polls on perceptions of public education in New Orleans since 2007. Our polls are designed to provide insight into how parents, guardians, and the general public view New Orleans’ highly decentralized K-12 public education system. Each year, we include new questions about the most relevant and pressing issues facing educators and families. We also repeat questions from our previous polls to assess how opinions change over time on a few key topics. This is the second of two briefs released in the 2024-2025 school year with results from polling conducted in the fall of 2024. We present the data in this way to make it more accessible for readers —the briefs allow us to group the findings by topic, enabling us to surface trends about particular areas of the city’s education system. To capture the experiences and attitudes of a wide range of parents, as we have done since 2020, we polled 1,000 public and private school parents and guardians in Orleans Parish, as well as a small number who homeschool their children. The topics covered in this brief include: • Policy changes in schools • FAFSA • Postsecondary education • High school courses • Employment • Life after high school | 1,000
90%
10%
AUG. 21-SEP. 3, 2024 | Orleans Parish Parents and Guardians Polled Reached via Cell Phone
Reached via Landline
Polling Conducted | | --- | --- | METHODOLOGY This is part two the 15th opinion poll on public education in New Orleans published by the Cowen Institute since 2007. The survey items were developed by the Cowen Institute in consultation with LJR Custom Strategies, a strategic research and consulting firm led by Principal Jennifer Johnson. LJR has led our polling over the past six years. Questions were created by the Cowen Institute in partnership with LJR and feedback from external stakeholders in the New Orleans education community. This was a survey of 1,000 adults who reside in Orleans Parish and are the parent/ guardian/responsible party for one or more children who currently reside in their household and attend a K through 12 school or are homeschooled. It was conducted from August 21-September 3, 2024 via landline and cell phone. The findings applying to the 1,000 sample are subject to a sampling error of plus or minus 3.1%; subgroups of the sample are subject to error of up to plus or minus 10%. Please note that when percentages in responses do not add up to 100%, it is due to rounding. December 2024 3 DEMOGRAPHICS Of those polled, our respondents had the following characteristics: Race Gender Educational Attainment Household Income Number of Schools Children Currently Attend Type of School Special Education 4 Cowen Institute December 2024 5 KEY FINDINGS Policy Issues Direct run schools: A majority of respondents were in favor of New Orleans Public Schools’ decision in 2024 to open and directly run a school for the first time since 2019. Cell phone bans: We found that a large majority of parents and guardians favored the state’s recent decision to ban cell phones in K-12 classrooms. FAFSA requirement: A significant majority of respondents favored a policy requiring all high school students to fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in order to graduate. Louisiana had such a policy in place but overturned it this year. Postsecondary Education Postsecondary matriculation: We found that most respondents were not planning on their child(ren) attending a four-year university or college after graduating highschool and those who did were unclear of how they planned to pay for it. High School Courses Coursework: A majority of respondents preferred that high schools offer career and technical education courses rather than

FAQs

Who were the survey respondents in this 2024-25 poll brief?

The survey included 1,000 adults residing in Orleans Parish who are parents, guardians, or responsible parties for children in grades K-12 attending local schools or being homeschooled.

What policy change did respondents strongly support related to school operations?

A majority of respondents favored New Orleans Public Schools’ decision in 2024 to open and directly run a school again for the first time since 2019.

How did respondents view a requirement for FAFSA to graduate from high school?

A significant majority supported a policy requiring all high school students to fill out the FAFSA to graduate, noting that Louisiana had enacted it but overturned it that year.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Callum