New Report From the Knight Foundation: “Americans’ Views on Book Restrictions in U.S. Public Schools 2024”

From the Knight Foundation:

Book challenges and restrictions in U.S. public schools have increased dramatically since 2021. Yet research on public awareness, attitudes and engagement in these activities is limited. In an effort to fill this critical knowledge gap in the national dialogue, Knight Foundation partnered with Langer Research Associates to survey a random national sample of more than 4,500 adults, deeply exploring public attitudes on restricting students’ access to books in public schools. This research extends the foundation’s two-decade history of public opinion polling on attitudes toward the First Amendment and free expression.

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Key Findings

Majorities of Americans feel informed about book restriction efforts and say the issue is personally important to them. Still, few actively participate.

• About six in 10 feel informed about debates to restrict access to books in public schools. As many call the issue highly important.

• About one in four (23 percent) are aware of efforts to restrict public school students’ access to books in their community. Thirteen percent say book access in fact has been restricted due to these efforts.

• Far fewer, 3 percent, personally have engaged on this issue: 2 percent to maintain book access, 1 percent to restrict it.

Two-thirds of Americans oppose efforts to restrict books in public schools and most are confident in public schools’ selection of books.

• Strong sentiment is lopsided, with strong opponents of book restrictions outnumbering strong supporters by nearly 3-1.

• In general terms, 78 percent of adults are confident that their community’s public schools select appropriate books for students to read.

• Additionally, more people say it is a bigger concern to restrict students’ access to books that have educational value than it is to provide them with access to books that have inappropriate content. This view is especially prevalent when it comes to middle and high school students.

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32 pages; PDF. 

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