Tuesday, Sept. 15, 5:30 p.m. 

THE ISSUE: Dan Jones & Associates poll

Canyons School District has released the results of a Dan Jones & Associates poll.
The Canyons Board of Education commissioned the survey to assess the perceived quality of education in neighborhood schools, gauge satisfaction with the new district and gather other data.

“The information in this poll will be invaluable to the Board of Education and the Administration as we chart a course for the future,” said Tracy Cowdell, President of the Canyons Board of Education.

The poll of 1,209 parents of school-age children in Cottonwood Heights, Draper, Midvale, Sandy and the town of Alta has some interesting results.

For example: Two-thirds –68 percent – of the respondents say they are somewhat or very satisfied with the way things are progressing with the new district.

Fifty-five percent of parents polled said they voted to create the new district, which became an official government entity July 1.  Fewer than one in four – 22 percent – opposed it.  Ten percent can’t recall how they voted and 13 percent said they didn’t vote.

As for academic programs, parents were asked to rate schools on a scale of 1 to 5, with lower scores indicating dissatisfaction. High schools, with a mean score of 3.98, attained the highest ratings, followed by elementary schools, with a mean of 3.83, and then middle schools, 3.58.

Parents also were asked to give suggestions to the Canyons Board of Education and District Administration.  While 35 percent didn’t have immediate comments, the top unprompted responses included requests for smaller class sizes, more parent involvement, comments about teachers, requests for more communication and comments about money and costs.

Five out of seven parents who participated in the survey have children in elementary schools.  About half have children in middle school or high school levels.

A small percentage report having children who attend other types of schools, including: public school outside Canyons (4 percent), charter school (3 percent), private school (2 percent), and home school (1 percent).

The poll, which has a margin of error of 2.8 percent for total data and 5.6 percent for high school area results, was conducted by telephone during weekday evening hours and during the day Saturdays in April and May.