How Does the American Public Feel About Marquee Education Issues?

SENTIMENT ON STANDARDS, USE OF EXAMS Q: Before today, have you ever heard of the Common Core State Standards? Yes Yes 45% 38% 55% No NO 62% PUBLIC SCHOOL PARENTS ALL RESPONDENTS SOURCE: PDK/Gallup The national PDK/Gallup Poll gauged knowledge about the Common Core State Standards among those who had heard of it, along with views about its value. It also surveyed opinions about the use of student test scores in teacher evaluations. IMore competitive ILess competitive Q: Do you believe Common Core State Standards would Have no effect Don't know/refused to answer help make education in the United States more 35 41% competitive globally, less competitive globally, or have no effect globally? 32 37 466 32 41% 36 21 DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICAN INDEPENDENT NATIONAL TOTALS 0: On a 5-point scale, where 5 means strongly agree and 1 means strongly disagree, please indicate your level of agreement with each of the following statements about the Common Core State Standards. 15 Strongly agree 14 13 |1 Strongly disagree Don't know/refused to answer 39 28 26 24 21 23 24 23 14 12 14 13 10 10 3 3 Federal govemment insists all states adopt Will create standards in Common core based on blend of state standards all academic areas FACT CHECK: FACT CHECK: FACT CHECK: The common-core standards State standards were The federal government has strongly encouraged states to adopt the standards through competitive grants and No Child Left Behind waivers. are only for EnglishMlanguage among the many resources that those developing the arts and mathematics. common core drew on. Q: Some states require that teacher evaluations include how well a teacher's students perform on standardized tests. Do you favor or oppose this requirement? Favor 41 Oppose Don't know/refused to answer 47% 52 58% Percentages may not add up to 100 percent because of rounding. NATIONAL TOTALS 2012 NATIONAL TOTALS 2013 ATTITUDES TOWARD ASSESSMENT Is the public fed up with standardized testing, or supportive? It depends on which poll you consult. Two recent national surveys sought to gauge sentiment on the topic, using very different wording in their questions, and generating strikingly different views. PDK/GALLUP ASSOCIATED PRESS-NORC CENTER 0. Over the last decade, there has been a significant increase in testing in the public schools to measure academic achievement. Just your impression or what you may have heard or read, has increased testing FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS RESEARCH 0. How important is it to you that your child's school regularly assesses whether or not your child is meeting the statewide expectations for the grade level? helped, hurt, or made no difference in the performance of the local public schools? 4 2 20 I Extremely important I Very important I Moderately important I Not too important I Not at all important 1 37 37% 22 41% Standardized tests are used to 0: evaluate students using a consistent test so that each student is scored in the same way. Overall, do you think students in your child's school take 36 too many standardized tests, too few standardized tests, or is it about right? 1 I Too many I About right I Too few I Don't know Helped |Hurt 11 26 Made no difference I Don't know/refused to answer Percentages may not add up to 100 percent because of rounding. 61% (Respondents were members of the public 18 or older.) (Respondents were parents of K-12 students.) EDUCATION WEEK Percent