Americans' satisfaction with K-12 education has fallen to 32%, the lowest level in the 27 years Gallup has tracked it (Gallup, Sept. 2026). The same week, international test results showed American 15-year-olds reading near their lowest level in a quarter century.

Behind those headlines is a more detailed picture. Since June, four national surveys have asked the public, parents, and students themselves how schools are doing. Read together, they show where confidence is falling, where it is holding, and which skills nearly everyone agrees are missing.

The short answer: According to this year's data, the biggest issues in education right now are falling public confidence, weak marks on critical thinking and real-world readiness, and uneven student engagement. Bullying and stress have also become the leading reasons families change schools.

The Walton Family Foundation funds Gallup's education research series. EdChoice is a nonprofit that advocates for school choice. Both publish full results and methodology. This report also draws on the 2025 PISA results, released by the OECD on Sept. 8.

Satisfaction Falls to a 27-Year Low

Only 8% of U.S. adults are completely satisfied with the quality of K-12 education. Another 24% are somewhat satisfied. The combined 32% is down 11 points in two years.

Dissatisfaction reached a record 67%. Since 1999, satisfaction has averaged 44%. It peaked at 53% in 2004 and has topped 50% only once since, in 2019.

The decline crosses party lines. Satisfaction stands at 35% among Democrats, 32% among independents, and 25% among Republicans. Democrats account for most of the recent drop, falling 19 points since 2024.

Asked in their own words why they are dissatisfied, Republicans and independents most often cited a lack of basic skills. Dissatisfied Democrats named basic skills about as often as funding and unfavorable comparisons with other countries.

Test scores point the same direction

The 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) found U.S. reading scores down 14 points from 2022, near their lowest level in about 25 years (Al Jazeera, Sept. 2026).

The decline was international. The average across 23 OECD countries fell 16 points. The U.S. stood out for the gap between its strongest and weakest readers: 25.7% of American students were classified as low performers and 13.3% as top performers.

Gallup finished its fieldwork before the PISA release, so the new scores did not shape these satisfaction numbers.

Critical Thinking Ranks Last

Gallup asked Americans to rate how well schools prepare students in six areas. Critical thinking and problem-solving finished last. Just 20% rated schools excellent or good, and 47% rated them poor. It was the only area where a plurality said schools do a poor job.

Preparing students for the world of work finished next to last, at 21% positive and 38% poor. The highest-rated area was adapting to new technologies, at 44% positive.

Parents of K-12 students rate schools more favorably across the board. Even so, a majority of parents gave positive marks in only one area: technology (51%). On critical thinking, 29% of parents rated schools positively, compared with 16% of other adults.

Other surveys find similar gaps. In EdChoice's June polling, fewer than half of school parents said students are prepared to work effectively with others in a professional setting, manage their finances, or find a good job. Among all Americans, about one-third said so (EdChoice, June 2026).

The same survey found strong demand for a related skill. Fifty-eight percent of Americans and 64% of school parents called civil debate very important for high school students to learn.

The Closer to the Classroom, the Better Schools Look

A consistent pattern runs through these surveys. People rate schools most favorably when asked about their own experience and least favorably when asked about schools in general.

Sixty percent of Gen Z students say they feel prepared for the future, up from 43% in 2023 (Gallup, Aug. 2026). Two-thirds of K-12 parents (66%) are satisfied with their own child's education, and 68% give their child's school good marks for adapting to prepare students for the future. In EdChoice's polling, 54% of parents said their child's school does well preparing students for careers.

Asked about the nation's schools, those same parents cut their ratings roughly in half. Only 32% of K-12 parents are satisfied with U.S. education overall, and 27% rate schools positively on preparing students for work.

Gallup reads the gap as a sign that Americans' concerns center on the national system more than on their own child's school.

The local cushion is thinning, however. Parents' 66% satisfaction with their own child's education is itself a record low, down from 83% in 1999.

Engagement Predicts Preparedness

Gallup's Gen Z data helps explain why students' views vary so widely. Among the most engaged students, 81% feel prepared for the future. Among the least engaged, 27% do.

Engagement is improving. Fifty-one percent of students say they get to do what they do best at school every day, up from 37% in 2023. Sixty percent say their schoolwork challenges them in a good way, up from 50%.

Relationships remain a gap. About three in 10 students do not agree that an adult at school checks in on them or recognizes their strengths. One in three do not feel they belong at school.

Students who do not plan to attend college report the widest gaps. They trail college-bound peers by 22 points on feeling positively challenged by schoolwork and by 18 points on feeling prepared for the future.

Student wellbeing is also reshaping family decisions. In EdChoice's June polling, bullying (33%) and excessive stress or anxiety (27%) were the leading reasons parents gave for switching schools. Unmet academic needs previously topped that list.

Where the Surveys Disagree

One finding cuts the other way. EdChoice's Schooling in America survey found optimism rising (EdChoice, Aug. 2026). Thirty-seven percent of Americans said K-12 education is headed in the right direction, up 6 points from 2025 and 10 points from 2023. Among school parents, the share saying education is on the wrong track fell from 64% in 2024 to 56%.

Three differences likely explain the split:

• The question. EdChoice asks about direction. Gallup asks about current quality. A respondent can rate schools poorly today and still see them improving.
• The timing. EdChoice fielded its survey in March and April. Gallup fielded in August.
• The method. Gallup used random-digit-dial phone interviews and a probability-based panel. EdChoice combined non-probability online panels with live phone calls.

On one point the surveys agree: in neither does a majority of Americans rate K-12 education positively.

Demand for Options Stays High

In EdChoice's survey, 78% of Americans and 84% of school parents supported education savings accounts (ESAs), which let families direct public education funds toward approved expenses. Sixty-five percent of parents said they would enroll their child in an ESA if offered one.

Awareness lags support. Half of parents were unsure whether their state has an ESA program. A new federal tax credit for donations to scholarship organizations takes effect Jan. 1, 2027. Only 26% of parents said they had heard a great deal or a lot about it.

Our Read: What the Data Points Toward

Analysis from Veritas Press

Surveys measure perception, and perception has limits. Still, the skills Americans rate lowest share a common thread. Critical thinking, working through problems with others, and civil debate are all skills of argument: evaluating a claim, weighing evidence, and answering someone who disagrees.

The classical model builds these skills on purpose. The trivium moves students from grammar (knowledge) to logic (reasoning) to rhetoric (clear, persuasive expression) (The Trivium Explained). Formal logic is taught as its own subject in the middle years (Why Studying Logic Is So Important). Socratic discussion, which asks students to defend and refine their answers in real time, anchors the classroom (What Is the Socratic Method?). Debate, done well, teaches students to disagree with rigor and charity.

The engagement data points the same way. Students in Gallup's study felt most prepared when an adult at school knew them and when their work felt challenging and relevant. Small, discussion-driven classes make both more likely, whether in a building or online (Discussion & Interaction in the Online Classroom).

Veritas Press has built classical Christian curriculum and live online classes around this approach for more than 30 years. The goal is formation: students who think clearly, speak persuasively, and engage the world with wisdom and conviction.

What to Watch

• The PDK Poll. The longest-running survey of attitudes toward public schools usually releases in late summer. The 2026 edition had not been published as of this writing.
• Partisan trends. Whether Democrats' falling satisfaction continues, and whether Republicans' ratings shift, in Gallup's 2027 reading.
• The federal scholarship tax credit. More than 30 states had opted in as of August, ahead of the Jan. 1, 2027 start date.
• Student engagement. Whether this year's gains in Gen Z engagement and preparedness hold in next year's survey.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the biggest issues in education right now? Recent national surveys point to four: record-low public satisfaction with K-12 education, poor ratings on teaching critical thinking and workforce readiness, gaps in student engagement and belonging, and rising concern about bullying and student stress. International test scores in reading have also declined.

How satisfied are Americans with K-12 education? Thirty-two percent of U.S. adults say they are satisfied with the quality of K-12 education, according to Gallup's August 2026 poll. That is the lowest figure in the 27 years Gallup has asked.

Why do parents rate their own child's school higher than schools nationally? Parents judge their own school from direct experience, including teachers and relationships they know. Their view of the national system draws on news coverage and aggregate data. In 2026, 66% of K-12 parents were satisfied with their own child's education, while 32% were satisfied with U.S. education overall.

Why are families switching schools? In EdChoice's June 2026 polling, the top reasons parents gave were bullying (33%) and excessive stress or anxiety (27%). In earlier polling, unmet academic needs led the list.

For a side-by-side look at how home education compares with conventional schooling, see Homeschool vs. Public School. Families considering a change can start with our guide on how to switch from public school to homeschool.

About the Data

• Gallup / Walton Family Foundation, K-12 Satisfaction. Telephone poll of 1,200 U.S. adults, Aug. 3-24, 2026 (margin of error ±4 points; ±8 for 233 K-12 parents). Web survey of 2,143 Gallup Panel members, Aug. 3-17, 2026 (±3 points; ±5 for 530 K-12 parents). Source
• Gallup / Walton Family Foundation, Voices of Gen Z. Web survey of 1,758 students ages 14-19, May 22-June 9, 2026 (±3.6 points). Source
• EdChoice, 2026 Schooling in America. Nationally representative samples of 1,504 adults and 2,466 school parents, March 24-April 4, 2026, using online panels and live phone interviews. Source
• EdChoice / Morning Consult, June 2026 Polling. National surveys of adults and school parents conducted near the end of the 2025-26 school year. Source
• OECD, PISA 2025. Results released Sept. 8, 2026, as reported by Al Jazeera and The Hill.