Public Television Stations
A Trusted Source for Educating America
Inform. Enlighten. Enrich.
These are three cornerstones upon which public broadcasting relies as it carries out the important charge of educating America. When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, he challenged the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to prove that "what educates can also be exciting."
Forty years after the signing of the Public Broadcasting Act, public broadcasting remains committed to meeting this challenge -- to educating Americans. Now more than ever, public broadcasting is dedicated to measuring the impact of its work. The success of public broadcasting's educational mission means success for America, beginning with young children who learn to count and read and extending well beyond to lifelong learning. Gauging progress and success are important activities in the pursuit of this goal.
In the case of broadcast television, success is determined through viewership ratings and viewer impressions. Public television, however, educates America far beyond the broadcast. This report is an important first step towards documenting the impact of public television's efforts to educate America.
2007 Education Services Survey
In July 2007, with the guidance of the Education Committee of public television's Affinity Group Coalition, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting contracted with SRI International, an independent, nonprofit research institute, to conduct a survey to document the education services currently offered by public television stations and the services that stations aspire to provide in coming years.
The survey purposely did not ask about broadcast programs aired by these stations, but rather the off-air educational services that they provide to their communities. The survey challenged stations to describe their education programs, audiences, technology, and how they evaluate the implementation and impact of their important education-related work.