2011 Classroom School Uniform Survey

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Key Findings from the report:

School uniforms are still relevant. School uniforms programs remain important, increasingly so with suburban area school districts who generated more opinions this year than those in urban and rural areas.

What a student wears to school affects their educational experience. Seventy-eight percent (78%) of the respondents agreed that what a student wears to school affects their educational experience.

Bullying is the most prevalent issue all districts are facing. As noted in the news, survey participants with standardized dress programs stated their districts was currently working to improve bullying (85%), parent involvement (80%), AYP Target Achievement (75%), discipline (75%) and attendance (63%) in their districts. Respondents with districts not in school uniforms agreed that bullying (76%), AYP Target Achievement (70%), parent involvement (64%) and attendance (60%) were the top issues which needed to be addressed.

While bullying had been a top issue in the past, it has risen to being the most important issue being tackled across the board. School uniform discussions with mandatory policies are on the rise. The number of schools board members with school uniform programs in place who participated in the survey have decreased but more members stated that discussions were taking place in their districts. Of those with school uniforms, the trend continues to show that more districts have mandatory policies rather than voluntary ones and that a majority of the respondents with programs have been utilizing such programs for more than five years.

More middle school and high school students are wearing uniforms. There are more and more school uniform and standardized dress code programs in secondary and high schools than ever before. Years ago, districts were starting their programs on the elementary school level, but now respondents are providing data for secondary and high schools as well.

Schools are seeing quantitative data improvements in their programs. Respondents with school uniform programs continued to see quantitative improvements in their attendance rates, Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) scores, gang influence data with school uniforms.

School uniforms are still more cost effective than general apparel. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of respondents felt parents find school uniforms more cost effective, where another thirty-one percent (31%) was not sure. In 2010, fifty-four percent (54%) felt uniforms were a money saver where thirty-nine percent (39%) were not sure. It is unclear if the state of the US economy or an increase in the number of programs has led to this finding.

The basics still matter. Price, availability in local stores, size, fit and comfort and fit are still seen as important drivers when choosing what uniform features are important, but products “Made in the USA” seem to be less important as in years past. When evaluating what school uniform clothing features are important to its families, respondents stated price (65%), availability in local stores (64%), availability of sizes (50%) and comfort and fit (48%) were cited as the most important factors.