A few interesting tidbits from a new poll on the electorate's attitudes about education: While Americans are generally pessimistic about the quality of their local schools -- 32 percent say local education quality has declined nationwide and only 15 percent say it has improved -- only one demographic ranks education as its foremost concern. That group is young black adults, people who only recently left high schools that were likely segregated by race and income. Nationwide, about two-thirds of African-American children attend schools that are "minority majority," and 40 percent of them learn in classrooms that are 90 to 100 percent black.
Historically, Latinos too have weighed education as a higher public policy priority than whites. The new poll, conducted by the Public Education Network, found blacks and Latinos are twice as likely as whites to approve of No Child Left Behind.
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