Report re: PUMP Regional K-12th Grade Education Survey
Survey Process and Respondents
PUMP shared an online survey with current and past members, constituents and concerned young people in the greater Pittsburgh region requesting feedback on regional educational issues. 42 individual responses were collected between January 19 and February 17, 2016. 71% of respondents live in the City of Pittsburgh/Pittsburgh Public Schools school district with only 3 households having school-aged children. Outside of the City of Pittsburgh 2 households also have school-aged children. However, 83% of respondents identified Pittsburgh Public Schools as important or somewhat important to them. As the major employment and cultural center for the region, the City of Pittsburgh is a desirable place to live. The importance of the school district may be affected by the fact that 84% of respondents without children currently hope/plan to have children in the next 0-5 years with 53% of them hoping to send their children to public school. 38% are still undecided as to what type of school they will eventually choose. 29% anticipate selecting charter or private school for their future children.
Source of Regional Education Information
Survey respondents get their information about school districts from the following sources:
School District Top Priorities
Survey respondents’ top priorities regarding local Kindergarten-12th grade education (with 50% or more of respondents selecting them as Important for their school district) are the following:
Excellent Teachers
Hands-on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) programs
Student Achievement
School Safety
Qualified Administration
Quality Extra-curricular Activities
21st Century Technology Available for Teacher and Student Use
Equity in Education from One School to the Next
Quality School Buildings/Facilities
School District Perceived Performance
Respondents were asked to evaluate their local school district’s performance while keeping their priorities for a quality school district in mind. Responses were divided between those who reside inside and outside of the City of Pittsburgh/Pittsburgh Public School District. The number of respondents are noted on the y axis. Nearly as many respondents in the City of Pittsburgh believe the school district performs below their expectations as those who do not know how the district performs. Whereas respondents outside of the City were more likely to say that their local district meets or exceeds their expectations.
School District Effects on Place of Residence
For families with children, school district affected where they chose to live equally in the City of Pittsburgh and outside. Respondents without children were more likely to respond that they plan to stay in their current school district when they have children if they live outside of the City of Pittsburgh (38%) than if they live in the City of Pittsburgh (8%; 80% are undecided).
Next Steps
PUMP will use this information to target programming around issues of importance as well as identify partner engagement opportunities for PUMP constituents regarding regional quality Kindergarten-12th grade education.