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

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Callum

Annual Poll 2024 presents Parents and Guardians’ opinions on K-12 public education in New Orleans, released as The Cowen Institute Poll Policy Brief No. 2, with results from polling conducted in fall 2023. It summarizes the 1,000-parent and guardian survey of Orleans Parish, including adults reaching both by cell phone and landline, and reports key trends across enrollment concerns, career and technical education interest, and the most pressing education issues.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Overview

Methodology

Demographics

Key Findings

Most Pressing Issue

School Board

ANNUAL POLL 2024 Parents and Guardians’Opinions on K-12 Public Education in New Orleans The Cowen Institute Poll Policy Brief No. 2 February 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 second 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. 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. February 2024 3 DEMOGRAPHICS Of those polled, our respondents had the following characteristics: SCHOOL TYPE | 70% | 21% | 7% | 2% | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | parents/guardians of | parents /guardians | parents/guardians with | parents/guardians | | students who only | of students who only | children in both public | whose children were | | attend public schools | attend private or | schools and other | only homeschooled | | in New Orleans | parochial schools | private, parochial, or homeschool | | 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 | their income | | of $39,999 or less | between $40,000 | of $75,000 or more | | | annually | and $74,999 annually | annually | | 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% Female Male AGE 15% 45% 28% 9% aged 18-34 aged 35-44 aged 45-54 aged 55 or above Note: 3% did n

FAQs

What was the purpose of the Cowen Institute annual polls?

The polls provide insight into how parents, guardians, and the general public view New Orleans’ decentralized K-12 public education system, including tracking how opinions change over time on key topics.

How was this survey conducted and what is the sample size?

LJR surveyed 1,000 adults in Orleans Parish who are parents, guardians, or responsible parties for children in K-12 schools or who homeschool. Polling ran October 16–26, 2023, using landline and cell phone (90% cell phone, 10% landline).

Which issues did respondents say were most pressing?

A plurality (45%) said all listed issues were pressing. Among specific priorities, 19% cited ensuring student safety and well-being, followed by improving academic outcomes and other concerns such as poverty and lack of diversity at high-performing schools.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Callum