July 26, 2022

Online Education is Growing: Earns High Praise from Recently Conducted Survey

F For the past six years, New America has been collecting data for its Varying Degrees survey. This spans a period of significant change in the United States, including divisive election cycles, the coronavirus pandemic, a reckoning with racism prompted by the police killing of George Floyd, and economic upheaval.

According to its recent survey results released on Tuesday, almost half of adults in the U.S, or 47%, believe online education is roughly of the same quality as in-person instruction. This is a significant increase from the third who said the same last year.

Four out of five respondents to the survey agreed that the cost of online education should be lower than that of in-person instruction. Generally speaking, opinions on whether students can get a good, affordable education after high school are fairly evenly divided.

…while there has been relative consistency in Americans’ views about educational opportunities after high school, there are some signs over the past couple of years that positivity has declined somewhat…

The perception that higher education benefits the United States is eroding. According to the New America survey, colleges are having a positive impact in 2020, according to 69% of respondents. Just 55% of respondents said that this year. 73 percent of Democrats and 37 percent of Republicans, respectively, agreed that higher education was a good thing.

A report on the survey said that "While there has been relative consistency in Americans’ views about educational opportunities after high school, there are some signs over the past couple of years that positivity has declined somewhat."

Insight into test-optional admissions practises, which have become increasingly common during the pandemic, is also provided by the survey. Only 6% of respondents thought ACT or SAT scores should be required and heavily weighted in admissions decisions, while 38% thought they should be required but combined with other factors like grades.

Posted in News and tagged News, New America Survey, Online Education, Affordable Education, ACT, SAT, United States
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