Annual Poll 2024 - Parents and Guardians’ Opinions on K-12 Public Education in New Orleans - Cowen Institute Poll Policy Brief No. 1 - January 2024

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Callum

Annual Poll 2024 presents the Cowen Institute’s findings on parents and guardians’ perceptions of New Orleans’ decentralized K-12 public education system. The brief uses results from a survey of 1,000 Orleans Parish parents and guardians conducted October 16–26, 2023. Overall dissatisfaction is prominent, with negative views about the city and education reaching their highest levels in five years. Differences by race and socioeconomic status shape dissatisfaction, while younger-child parents report comparatively more favorable views.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Overview

Methodology

Demographics

Key Findings

Direction of the City

ANNUAL POLL 2024 Parents and Guardians’Opinions on K-12 Public Education in New Orleans The Cowen Institute Poll Policy Brief No. 1 January 2024 OVERVIEW 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 ask some 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. We now release the poll findings in a series of briefs at the start of each year. This is the first of two briefs that will be released in 2024 with results from polling conducted in the fall of 2023. We present the data in this way to make it more accessible and understandable for the general public — the briefs allow us to group the findings by topic, enabling us to surface trends about particular areas of the city’s education system. This brief covers general perceptions about New Orleans K-12 public education; the second brief will delve more deeply into specific areas of education. 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. | 1,000
90%
10% | Orleans Parish Parents and Guardians Polled
Reached via Cell Phone
Reached via Landline | | --- | --- | | OCTOBER 16-26, 2023 | Polling Conducted by LJR Custom Strategies | METHODOLOGY This is the 14th 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. For this poll, LJR surveyed 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-12 school or are homeschooled. The poll was conducted from October 16- 26, 2023, via landline and cell phone, with 90% of respondents reached by cell phone and 10% reached by landline. Findings applying to the 1,000 person 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’s due to rounding. January 2024 3 DEMOGRAPHICS Of those polled, our respondents had the following characteristics: SCHOOL TYPE | 70% | 21% | 7% | 2% | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | parents of students | parents of students | parents with children | parents whose | | who only attend | who only attend | in N.O. public schools | children were only | | public schools in New | private or parochial | and some who attend | homeschooled | | Orleans | schools | private, parochial, or are homeschooled | | RACE | 47% | 39% | 5% | 8% | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Black | White | Hispanic | Other/Did Not Answer | INCOME LEVEL | 40% | 37% | 10% | 13% | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | from lower-income | from middle-income | were from higher- | didn’t know or | | households — | households— | income households — | refused to provide | | household income | household income of | household income of | their income | | of $39,999 or less | between $40,000 | $75,000 or more | | | annually | and $74,999 | | | EDUCATION LEVEL | 39% | 41% | 16% | 4% | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | had a high school | had some college or a | had a four-year | didn’t respond or | | degree or less | two-year/vocational/ technical degree | college degree or some postgraduate work or degree | didn’t know | GENDER 50% 50%

FAQs

How many parents and guardians were surveyed, and when was the polling conducted?

The poll surveyed 1,000 adults in Orleans Parish. The fieldwork ran from October 16–26, 2023 via landline and cell phone.

What do the results say about overall satisfaction with New Orleans public education?

Respondents show considerable dissatisfaction with public education and with the city’s direction under current leadership. Negative perceptions are higher than at any point over the past five years.

How do satisfaction levels differ across groups?

Black respondents report higher dissatisfaction than White and Hispanic respondents. Higher-income respondents generally have more positive views than lower-income respondents, and younger-child parents are more favorable than older-child parents.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Callum