WHAT MATTERS IN EDUCATION - Annual Poll Policy Brief No. 1 - Parents and Guardians’ Opinions on K-12 Public Education in New Orleans

Oct 15, 2026

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Cowen Institute presents Annual Poll Policy Brief No. 1 (November 2022) on parents and guardians’ perceptions of K-12 public education in New Orleans. The brief summarizes findings from its 13th annual opinion poll, surveying 1,000 adults in Orleans Parish. Results show respondents are more negative than in prior years, with education, charter schools, and NOLA-PS facing lower assessments. It also highlights shifts in non-response and subgroup differences by income, education, and race.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Methodology

Overall Trends

Key Findings

The Top Issues Facing New Orleans

Subgroup Breakdown

What is the top issue facing New Orleans? (All respondents)

Cowen Institute WHAT MATTERS IN EDUCATION Parents and Guardians’ Opinions on K-12 Public Education in New Orleans Annual Poll Policy Brief No. 1 NOVEMBER 2022 INTRODUCTION The Cowen Institute has conducted annual polls on perceptions of public education in New Orleans since 2007. These polls are designed to provide a snapshot about 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 carry over questions from our previous polls to assess how opinions change overtime on a few key topics. Beginning last year, we began releasing the poll findings in a series of briefs. Prior to 2021, we had presented the complete findings for a given year in a single comprehensive report. We made the change to make the data more accessible and digestible for the general public — the briefs allow us to group findings by topic, enabling us to surface trends about particular areas of the city’s education system. This is the first of two briefs we will release on our poll this year. 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. The breakdown for this year’s respondents is detailed below: 81% Parents and guardians whose children only attend New Orleans Public Schools (NOLA-PS) 15% Parents and whose children private and schools guardians only attend parochial 2% Parents and guardians who have some children who attend public schools and some who attend private schools 2% Parents and guardians whose children are exclusively homeschooled METHODOLOGY This is the 13th opinion poll on public education in New Orleans published by the Cowen Institute. It was conducted between September 6-15, 2022. 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 five years. The poll 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. Of those adults surveyed, 90% were reached by cell phone and 10% were reached by landline. The sample was representative of the location of residence of the population of New Orleans. Findings from the full 1,000 person sample are subject to a sampling error of plus or minus 3.1%. Subgroup analyses are subject to error of up to plus or minus 10%. A full overview of question format and item-level descriptives are included on our website: [cowendata.org](cowendata.org) 2 Cowen Institute November 2022 3 OVERALL TRENDS ↓ Overall, respondents this year were noticeably more negative about education generally, and specific areas of the city’s K-12 public education system than in the past few years. As is shown in the key findings section, respondents were more pessimistic about the overall direction and quality of education in the city, as well as about charter schools and New Orleans Public Schools (NOLA-PS). ? We also sawa notable jumpin the percentage of respondents providing no response or answering they were not aware of the topic they were being asked about. While we can only speculate about the cause of the increased proportion of non-response categories, we want to draw attention to it throughout the poll brief. $ As in previous years, there are noticeable differences in responses among socio-demographic groups, with some of the largest differences

FAQs

What is the purpose of the Cowen Institute’s annual education polls in New Orleans?

The polls provide a snapshot of how parents, guardians, and the general public view New Orleans’ decentralized K-12 public education system. Each year adds new questions and carries over prior ones to track changes over time.

How was the 2022 survey conducted, and who was included?

The poll was conducted between September 6–15, 2022. It surveyed 1,000 adults in Orleans Parish who are the parent/guardian/responsible party for children in K-12 school or homeschooled.

What overall changes appear in respondents’ views compared with previous years?

Respondents this year were more negative about education generally and about specific areas of New Orleans’ K-12 public education than in past years. There was also a notable increase in the share of respondents who gave no response or said they were not aware of the topic.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Connor