Parents' Attitudes on the Quality of Education in the United States

Between America's long-standing national objective of improving the strength of the public school system to prepare students for college and careers and the focus of the Obama administration on education as a pathway to economic security for the middle class and improving the economy, education issues and policy are in the spotlight. A central focus of the policy discussion is the measurement of quality and the utilization of quality data to improve student outcomes. This quality-focused policy agenda covers a range of high-profile issues, from standardized testing to teacher evaluation to early childhood education, and involves a range of stakeholders. While regular survey research is conducted with a variety of stakeholders, including teachers, very few nationally representative surveys of parents have been conducted recently. Often cited as a key determinant of student outcomes, parents represent an important perspective that policymakers need to understand in the design, articulation, and implementation of quality-focused education initiatives. This study provides a comprehensive description of parents' perspectives on education in America today, with a specific focus on understanding what quality education and teaching means to parents and how it should be measured and rewarded. With funding from the Joyce Foundation, the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted a national survey of 1,025 parents or guardians of children who completed a grade between kindergarten and 12th during the 2012-2013 school year

Americans’ Attitudes toward the Affordable Care Act: What Role Do Beliefs Play?

How do people form their attitudes toward complex policy issues? Although there has long been an assumption that people consider the various components of those issues and come to an overall assessment, a growing body of recent work has instead suggested that people may reach summary judgments as a function of heuristic cues and goal-oriented rationalizations. This study examines how well a component-based model fits Americans’ evaluations of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, an important and highly contentious piece of legislation that contained several constituent parts. Despite strong partisan disagreement about the law, we find that Democrats and Republicans both appear to evaluate the law as a function of their beliefs and what the law would do as well as their confidence in those beliefs. This finding implies that correcting misperceptions and increasing awareness of the components of legislation have the potential to change attitudes

Social Resources and Community Resilience in the Wake of Superstorm Sandy.

Recovery efforts after natural disasters typically focus on physical infrastructure. In general less attention is paid to the social infrastructure that might impact the capacity of the community to rebuild. We examine perceptions of preparedness and recovery (markers of resilience at the community level) in the wake of Superstorm Sandy with a novel data set that includes a multi-mode survey of twelve neighborhoods severely affected by the storm. With these data, we suggest that social resources are associated with beliefs about neighborhood resilience. People who live in communities with higher social cohesion (coefficient = .73, p <.001), informal social control (coefficient = .53, p <.001), and social exchange (coefficient = .69, p <.001) are more likely to believe their neighborhoods are well prepared for a disaster. Likewise, people living in communities with higher social cohesion (coefficient = .35, p <.01), informal social control (coefficient = .27, p <.05), and social exchange (coefficient = .42, p <.001) are more likely to be confident their neighborhoods will recover quickly from a disaster. However, the effects of social resources on beliefs about resilience vary based on neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) and the impact of the storm. Informal social control and social exchange lead to a greater increase in confidence in recovery in low, as compared to high, SES neighborhoods. Social resources tend to have more impact on perceptions of recovery in communities less affected by the storm. In sum, these findings suggest the potential value of various forms of social intervention to better equip communities to respond when disaster strikes

Social Resources and Community Resilience in the Wake of Superstorm Sandy

Recovery efforts after natural disasters typically focus on physical infrastructure. In general less attention is paid to the social infrastructure that might impact the capacity of the community to rebuild. We examine perceptions of preparedness and recovery (markers of resilience at the community level) in the wake of Superstorm Sandy with a novel data set that includes a multi-mode survey of twelve neighborhoods severely affected by the storm. With these data, we suggest that social resources are associated with beliefs about neighborhood resilience. People who live in communities with higher social cohesion (coefficient = .73, p <.001), informal social control (coefficient = .53, p <.001), and social exchange (coefficient = .69, p <.001) are more likely to believe their neighborhoods are well prepared for a disaster. Likewise, people living in communities with higher social cohesion (coefficient = .35, p <.01), informal social control (coefficient = .27, p <.05), and social exchange (coefficient = .42, p <.001) are more likely to be confident their neighborhoods will recover quickly from a disaster. However, the effects of social resources on beliefs about resilience vary based on neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) and the impact of the storm. Informal social control and social exchange lead to a greater increase in confidence in recovery in low, as compared to high, SES neighborhoods. Social resources tend to have more impact on perceptions of recovery in communities less affected by the storm. In sum, these findings suggest the potential value of various forms of social intervention to better equip communities to respond when disaster strikes

What motivates a conspiracy theory? Birther beliefs, partisanship, liberal-conservative ideology, and anti-Black attitudes

Despite the release of his birth certificate, some Americans express continued skepticism over whether Barack Obama was born in the United States. This study examined two possible causes of birther beliefs: that Republicans and conservatives, whose ideological beliefs and policy preferences led to disapproval of the president, might be particularly prone to accepting birther beliefs, and that negative attitudes toward Blacks led some Americans to disapprove of the President and accept foreign birthplace claims. A nationally representative survey of Americans showed that birther sentiments were predominant among conservatives/Republicans and individuals holding anti-Black attitudes. These relations were mediated by disapproval of the president. Hence, it appears that birther beliefs were motivated both by politically-grounded disapproval and racially-driven disapproval of the president

Resilience in the Wake of Superstorm Sandy

This study provides unique data on and insights into the interplay of social factors, resilience, and recovery following Superstorm Sandy. With funding from The Rockefeller Foundation, The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted a national survey of 2,025 individuals, with an oversample of 1,007 interviews with residents of the Superstorm Sandy affected region. This study accomplished two goals. First, the study provides rigorous data on the region most affected by Superstorm Sandy to systematically measure the impacts of the storm on individuals and neighborhoods and to assess the level of recovery six months after the storm. Second, by collecting data on neighborhood characteristics and social factors, the study provides an opportunity to understand how these factors relate to recovery and resilience

Attitudes toward blacks in the Obama era changing distributions and impacts on job approval and electoral choice, 2008-2012

Much published research indicates that voting behavior in the 2008 presidential election and evaluations of Barack Obama were importantly influenced by anti-Black sentiment. Various psychological theories made opposing predictions as to whether exposure to the first Black president during his first term would strengthen or weaken the alignment between general attitudes toward African Americans and evaluations of the president in particular. Using data from national surveys conducted in 2008, 2009-2010, and 2012, we compared the associations of prejudice toward Blacks with presidential approval in those years and with electoral choices in 2008 and 2012. As predicted by theories of individuation, attitudes toward Blacks became increasingly disconnected from evaluations of Mr. Obama and from people's electoral choices over time. However, levels of prejudice against Blacks rose between 2008 and 2012. Because of this increased prejudice and the diminishing individual-level influence of attitudes toward Blacks on electoral choices, prejudice toward Blacks seems to have reduced Mr. Obama's vote share in the 2012 election by about the same extent as in 2008

Attitudes toward blacks in the Obama era changing distributions and impacts on job approval and electoral choice, 2008-2012

Much published research indicates that voting behavior in the 2008 presidential election and evaluations of Barack Obama were importantly influenced by anti-Black sentiment. Various psychological theories made opposing predictions as to whether exposure to the first Black president during his first term would strengthen or weaken the alignment between general attitudes toward African Americans and evaluations of the president in particular. Using data from national surveys conducted in 2008, 2009-2010, and 2012, we compared the associations of prejudice toward Blacks with presidential approval in those years and with electoral choices in 2008 and 2012. As predicted by theories of individuation, attitudes toward Blacks became increasingly disconnected from evaluations of Mr. Obama and from people's electoral choices over time. However, levels of prejudice against Blacks rose between 2008 and 2012. Because of this increased prejudice and the diminishing individual-level influence of attitudes toward Blacks on electoral choices, prejudice toward Blacks seems to have reduced Mr. Obama's vote share in the 2012 election by about the same extent as in 2008

Implicit and explicit prejudice in the 2008 american presidential election

a b s t r a c t The 2008 US presidential election was an unprecedented opportunity to study the role of racial prejudice in political decision making. Although explicitly expressed prejudice has declined dramatically during the last four decades, more subtle implicit forms of prejudice (which come to mind automatically and may influence behavior unintentionally) may still exist. In three surveys of representative samples of American adults, explicit and implicit prejudice were measured during the months preceding the election. Both explicit and implicit prejudice were significant predictors of later vote choice. Citizens higher in explicit prejudice were less likely to vote for Barack Obama and more likely to vote for John McCain. After controlling for explicit prejudice, citizens higher in implicit prejudice were less likely to vote for Obama, but were not more likely to vote for McCain. Instead, they were more likely to either abstain or to vote for a third-party candidate rather than Obama. The results suggest that racial prejudice may continue to influence the voting process even among people who would not endorse these attitudes