In a Community with Highly Ranked Public School Systems within State of Tennessee, Education Priority is Urgent to Ensure Quality of Life, National / Global Competitiveness
Maryville, Tenn. – When it comes to education and how “good” is “good enough,” residents of Blount County, Tenn., may want to take a second look at the role education plays in citizens’ long-term quality of life and economic prospects.
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“For residents to rank importance of having a basic high school education as a ‘7′ – only two points above ‘5′ as a neutral score on the 1 to 10 scale – points to a level of urgency here.” -Mark Cate, BEI Board President |
So reports the Blount Education Initiative (BEI) in its just-released survey of Blount County residents’ attitudes and opinions about education, quality of life and where education ranks as a community priority.
The majority of survey respondents (85 percent-plus) characterized the quality of life in Blount County as high. “Good schools” was among the top three most frequently cited reasons for high quality of life. (The county’s three separate school systems of Maryville City, Alcoa City and Blount County have generally received well-above-average performance ratings compared to all public school systems in the state of Tennessee).
In addition, the vast majority of respondents – more than 80 percent – thought it “very important” to live in a “community where you can keep on learning.”
However, when given a series of statements to rate their level of agreement or disagreement, survey respondents’ rankings caught BEI’s attention as points of concern.
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 meaning “do not agree at all” and 10 meaning “completely agree,” residents’ responses tallied up to the following average scores on the following statements:
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- 7.8 – “It is important to make sure we have a good quality of life in Blount County.”
- 7.5 – “It is important to have jobs in Blount County that make those new to the workforce want to stay in Blount County and work.”
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- 7.4 – “Education should be a top priority in Blount County.”
- 7.4 – “It is important to make sure that those working in Blount County have the skills needed to get a new job if they are laid off.”
- 7.4 – “It is important to get job training after high school.”
- 7.2 – “Businesses are more likely to locate in a community that has good public school systems.”
- 7.0 – “It is important to have a high school education.”
- 6.9 – “It is important to have a college education.”
- 6.8 – “It is important to volunteer in the local schools.”
- 6.8 – “Communities with a good education system experience lower crime rates.”
- 6.6 – “Citizens living in communities with a good education system have better health.”
- 4.5 – “The public schools in our community receive enough funding.”
“Interestingly, while Blount County residents seem to value quality of life as a big priority, this data points to a possible disconnect in residents understanding how strong education helps foster a strong quality of life,” said BEI Board President Mark Cate.
“As an example, for residents to rank importance of having a basic high school education as a ‘7′ – only two points above ‘5′ as a neutral score on the 1 to 10 scale – points to a level of urgency here,” Cate said. “BEI hopes to help all members of the community to connect the dots between education as a priority and such outcomes as workforce quality, desirable economic development and strong local job availability.”
According to the survey data, those who rated their agreement in “It is important to have a high school education” between 8 and 10 were more likely to be female, married, have a more formal education and have one or more children in the household. Those who were more likely to rate their agreement between 4 and 7 were more likely to be male, unmarried, have no children in the household and to be between the ages of 18-34.
The survey data provided a breakdown of all of the various responses by demographics – such as age, gender, income and geography of residence (Alcoa City, Maryville City or outlying county).
“This study provides an insightful roadmap regarding how BEI needs to move the needle, with respect to our organizational mission to make education the community’s top priority,” said BEI Executive Director Bonny Millard.
“Like any community, Blount County’s residents aren’t just one group of like-minded people,” Millard said. “That’s why we did this study – to understand better the diversity of attitudes, priorities and concerns in the community we’re seeking to influence. BEI intends to listen to and respect those differences as we engage with the community about education’s importance.”
One of the primary issues BEI plans to address as part of a planned community outreach campaign focuses on education and job competitiveness.
“The survey data indicates that residents connect good schools with positive quality of life in Blount County,” Cate said. “That’s a positive thing, and we have many reasons to be proud of our schools in all three school systems here. But we need to keep our understanding of what it means to be competitive in an accurate context.”
While the three school systems in Blount County have often ranked well within the state, Tennessee itself has traditionally ranked very low in the United States with respect to test scores and other indices of performance.
To compound the issue of competitiveness on a global scale, the United States itself has also been quite challenged in world rankings of educational performance, often falling far down the list in test scores and other indices of performance among industrialized nations.
“Part of BEI’s purpose is to develop a public awareness campaign focusing on the critical issues related to education, and as part of that outreach, we want Blount County citizens to feel a vested, personal stake in the advancement of education locally,” Cate said.
“We’re talking about a culture change of sorts, where the community understands the value and urgency of education in a whole new way,” Cate said. “That kind of change doesn’t happen overnight, but with a strong start to our campaign that is grounded in facts and not assumptions, our organization is prepared to take on this mission for the benefit of all of our citizens.”
ABOUT BLOUNT EDUCATION INITIATIVE
The Blount Education Initiative’s (BEI) mission is to make education the Blount County community’s top priority by
developing a sustained public awareness campaign focusing on the critical issues related to education, supporting local schools in their efforts to provide a top-notch education for all students and serving as a bridge between the educational community and businesses to develop meaningful collaborations. Achieving consensus about education’s vital importance, and what forms of support are required to achieve educational excellence, requires an organized, concerted campaign involving information exchange, dialogue, learning and persuasion. That’s why BEI exists – to facilitate this process. For more information, visit www.blounteducation.org
ABOUT THE BEI SURVEY METHODOLOGY
The 2009 BEI survey was conducted by telephone in a random digit dial sample of adult residents in Blount County, Tenn. The survey was conducted from January 14-26, 2009, with 845 interviews completed for an overall margin of error of +/- 3.4 percent at the 95 percent confidence interval. The average length of each telephone interview was 14 minutes and 26 seconds. The survey data was weighted to bring age and geographic concentrations in line with Community Population Survey projections for the city of Alcoa, city of Maryville, and the rest of Blount County.
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