Why Education Feels Broken (Even When Your Kid Is Fine)

Only 35% of U.S. adults say they’re satisfied with the quality of K–12 education nationwide—an all-time low in polling that goes back to 1999. Yet 74% of parents say they’re satisfied with their own oldest child’s education.

That gap isn’t just a curiosity for poll-watchers. It’s one of the most practical signals we have that we’re arguing about education quality using the wrong scorecard—and that the country’s anxiety about schools is now bleeding into the question employers care about most: skills and workforce readiness.

I’ve found this is where conversations get stuck: parents talk about lived experience (“My kid’s teacher is great”), while the public talks about a system (“Schools are failing”). Both can be true. The problem is what we do next. If we want education to be a reliable pipeline into good jobs and a stable economy, we need measurable outcomes, clearer definitions of “quality,” and better ways to connect school learning to real skill development.

The perception gap is real—and it’s predictable

The simplest explanation is this: people trust what they can personally see and influence. Parents can email a teacher, attend conferences, advocate for tutoring, or change a schedule. That sense of agency changes how “quality” feels.

National K–12 quality, on the other hand, is abstract. It’s filtered through headlines about test scores, social media conflict, and political messaging. When a problem feels too big to touch, dissatisfaction rises—even if day-to-day classroom experiences are decent.

Why “my school is fine” keeps showing up in polls

This pattern doesn’t just happen in education. Polling often shows Americans pessimistic about national institutions while being more positive about their local experiences—crime, healthcare, even elected officials. With schools, the local factor is even stronger because families build relationships with educators and routines around the school year.

Here’s the part we shouldn’t ignore: local satisfaction can mask systemic weakness. A parent can be happy with a caring teacher and still have a child who isn’t building the academic and career skills they’ll need later.

What’s new in 2025: the gap is widening

The wider chasm matters because it signals declining shared reality. If the public believes schools are broadly failing, trust drops. When trust drops, it becomes harder to pass budgets, recruit teachers, expand career and technical education, or launch workforce-aligned programs that require community buy-in.

And yes—politics is amplifying this. Education has shifted from a background issue to a frontline cultural battleground. That doesn’t just create noise; it changes what people mean when they say “quality.”

A useful working definition: Education quality is the degree to which a school system reliably builds skills, knowledge, and credentials that expand a student’s life options.

Most debates use the wrong definition of “education quality”

If you ask ten people what “a good education” means, you’ll get ten different answers. That’s the root of the mismatch.

A parent might mean:

• “My kid is safe and supported.”
• “Teachers communicate.”
• “Grades look okay.”
• “My child likes school.”

The public might mean:

• “Test scores are dropping.”
• “Graduates can’t write or do math.”
• “Schools are too political.”
• “Other countries outperform us.”

Both sets of concerns are legitimate. But neither automatically tells you whether students are building durable, job-relevant skills.

The workforce lens: outcomes that matter after graduation

In our Education, Skills, and Workforce Development series, we come back to one uncomfortable truth: the labor market doesn’t grade on effort, intentions, or vibes. Employers hire for capability.

That’s why “quality” needs to include outcomes like:

• Literacy and numeracy proficiency (foundational for almost every job)
• Career readiness skills (communication, teamwork, problem solving)
• Digital literacy (from spreadsheets to responsible AI use)
• Credential value (does the diploma predict competence?)
• Successful transitions (enrollment, apprenticeships, employment, persistence)

A school can feel supportive and still underserve students on these measures. The reverse can also be true: a school can be academically demanding but weak on belonging and mental health supports.

The goal isn’t to pick one. It’s to build a balanced dashboard that reflects the full mission: learning, wellbeing, and workforce readiness.

Politicization is hiding what families actually want

When people told pollsters they were dissatisfied with U.S. K–12 education, top reasons included words like “curriculum,” “indoctrination,” and concerns about overall quality.

Here’s my stance: culture-war framing is a distraction from practical improvement. Not because values don’t matter, but because politicized arguments tend to replace solvable questions with tribal ones.

Solvable questions look like:

• Are students reading on grade level by the end of 3rd grade?
• Are Algebra and statistics pathways working for more students?
• Are chronic absenteeism rates improving?
• Do graduates earn a living wage within 12–24 months?
• Are CTE and dual-enrollment programs leading to real credentials?

Tribal questions look like:

• Whose ideology is winning?
• Which books signal the “right” identity?
• Which side controls the narrative?

The more time we spend on the tribal questions, the less capacity schools have for the work that actually changes outcomes.

Why this matters for workforce development

Workforce development depends on stability and trust. Programs like apprenticeships, employer partnerships, and industry-recognized credential pathways don’t scale in communities where schools are treated as political battlegrounds.

If your goal is more students entering healthcare, advanced manufacturing, IT, or skilled trades, you need communities to agree on a shared target: students graduating with demonstrable skills.

A better way to measure what’s working: the “skills-to-work” scorecard

The fastest path through the perception gap is measurement that makes sense to parents, educators, and employers.

A skills-to-work scorecard doesn’t replace academics. It translates school outcomes into signals that families and local economies can use.

What to include (and why)

1. Foundational proficiency

   • Reading and math performance (disaggregated)
   • Growth measures, not just “percent proficient”

2. Attendance and engagement

   • Chronic absenteeism
   • Course completion
   • Student engagement indicators (survey-based, validated)

3. Career exploration and pathway participation

   • Middle-grade career awareness activities
   • High school pathway enrollment (CTE clusters, academies)

4. Credentials with labor-market value

   • Industry-recognized certifications earned
   • Dual-enrollment credits and completion

5. Postsecondary and employment outcomes

   • Apprenticeship participation
   • College enrollment and persistence (not just acceptance)
   • Employment rates and wage ranges (where available)

Here’s the key: publish it in plain language. A dashboard no one understands is just a spreadsheet with better branding.

A concrete example: what this looks like in a district

Imagine a district where parent satisfaction is high, but the scorecard shows:

• Reading growth is flat in grades 4–6
• Chronic absenteeism is rising in grade 9
• CTE enrollment is strong, but credential completion is low
• Graduates enroll in college, but persistence drops sharply after year one

That district isn’t “failing,” but it’s not reliably building workforce readiness either. The scorecard turns vague dissatisfaction into a targeted improvement plan:

• Invest in evidence-based literacy intervention for upper elementary
• Redesign 9th-grade schedules and supports to reduce absenteeism
• Tighten CTE-to-credential alignment with local employers
• Provide advising and bridge programs focused on persistence

This is where skills training and professional development pay off: teachers and counselors get support that maps to measurable student outcomes.

Family engagement is a workforce strategy (not a feel-good add-on)

Parents being satisfied with their own child’s education can be a strength—if schools treat it as a platform for partnership.

Family engagement improves outcomes when it’s specific and actionable, not performative. The best versions focus on what families can do at home and what schools commit to do in classrooms.

Three family engagement moves that actually change outcomes

1. Make skill goals concrete

   • Replace “doing well in math” with “can solve multi-step word problems and explain the reasoning.”

2. Use short-cycle progress updates

   • Quarterly skill snapshots beat a once-a-year report card surprise.

3. Offer pathway guidance early

   • Career exposure shouldn’t start junior year. Start in middle school with low-stakes exploration.

When families understand the skills target, they stop arguing about abstractions and start pushing for improvements that matter.

What leaders can do in 2026: a practical playbook

If you’re a district leader, a workforce board, a nonprofit, or an employer partner, this is the moment to act. Public dissatisfaction is high, and that can fuel bad policy—or it can create urgency for smarter measurement and better alignment.

A 90-day action plan to narrow the trust gap

• Host a “skills and outcomes” town hall focused on data, not ideology
• Publish a one-page skills-to-work scorecard with 8–12 metrics max
• Audit credential programs: which ones lead to wage gains or hiring preference?
• Train educators on evidence-based instruction tied to your weakest outcome areas
• Build an employer advisory group that meets quarterly and reviews pathways

A hiring market reality check

Employers often say they want “soft skills,” but they rarely define them. Schools can’t teach what industry won’t specify.

If you’re an employer partner, show up with clarity:

• What tasks do entry-level hires struggle with?
• What tools do they need fluency in (spreadsheets, ticketing systems, PLCs)?
• What communication behaviors predict success?

Then co-design rubrics, internships, capstones, and mock interviews that match those expectations.

Where this leaves us

The polling numbers tell a story that’s easy to miss: parents aren’t blind and the public isn’t irrational. They’re responding to different information and different levels of control.

The fix isn’t more messaging. It’s better measurement, tighter skills alignment, and real partnership among schools, families, and employers. If we want stronger workforce readiness, we have to stop treating “education quality” as a political mood and start treating it as an outcomes problem we can manage.

If you’re working in education, training, or workforce development, consider this your 2026 challenge: What would it take for a parent’s confidence and the public’s confidence to point in the same direction—and be backed by real skill data?