Professors Robert Scott and Scott Imig of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington released a new survey showing strong parent opposition to recent legislation affecting public schools and teachers.
They found that over 94% said that education was headed. In the wrong direction.
Over 94% think that teachers should be paid more.
96% disagreed with removing extra pay for getting a master’s degree.
Nearly three-quarters oppose using standardized test scores in teacher evaluations.
77% trust educators to make decisions about education, but less than 1% trust the legislators to do so.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thanks for posting this Diane. When Imig and Smith released their last survey, about educator views on NC education policies http://people.uncw.edu/imigs/documents/SmithImigReport.pdf
some of your blog participants wondered what parents think. It is nice to know that in most cases parents agree with the teachers. This is not a scientific study but there is some validation for the results. I was glad to see the researchers pulled out the parents who are educators from their report to make sure that overlap was separated out. There was also another recent study that came up with similar results.
LikeLike
The second study conducted on the other end of the state with different methodology is: http://www.highpoint.edu/src/files/2014/02/28memoED.pdf
LikeLike
The sad part is that the politicians will ignore what the people want. Our democracy is on life-support.
LikeLike
“But many parents who responded to the survey rated their own child’s school much higher than other schools and the overall state of education. Imig said that’s consistent with national surveys about education: Parents know their child’s teacher is working hard, but they hear so much about education reform that they believe other schools must be doing poorly.
And in North Carolina, Smith said, parents are now considering the potential long-term effects of the policy changes. While parents may think their child’s school is doing OK now, Smith said, many worry that the current trend will ultimately undermine public schools.”
This doesn’t surprise me at all. It’s exactly what I hear in Ohio.
The constant drumbeat of “failing public schools” is everywhere, and if that narrative doesn’t fit with your personal experience in your local public school you have to somehow explain that disconnect. The way most people do that is to say “it must be those other schools” instead of “maybe this narrative is 90% invented”.
I wish it mattered what “the public” thinks about public schools, Diane, but I don’t think it does. This entire debate has been conducted among foundation people and think tank people and corporate heads and clueless politicians.
Poll after poll shows that parents want their public schools properly funded, that funding is their number one issue, and that parents trust local teachers more than politicians or lobbyists. It doesn’t matter. They ride right over us. They’re not listening. We ask for ordinary, practical support and instead we get more testing and teacher ranking and school rankings and “choice” and vouchers and every other gimmick and fad under the sun.
I’m glad people are worried that the “current trend” will undermine public schools, broadly.
It will. It is. That’s just fact.
LikeLike
I’m very happy to see these poll numbers.
Generally, I’m skeptical of polls that show contradictory numbers. In many media polls, I see numbers suggesting that a majority of teachers support the Common Core. I have to wonder how the question is asked. My suspicion is that the question is something like: “If students learned the Common Core standards perfectly, would they learn more than what you currently teach them.”
Anyways, very happy to see that parents are generally happy with the teachers of North Carolina!
LikeLike
I’ll just tell you that I have never in my life heard people talk about public school teachers the way ed reformers did in Ohio when they were going after your collective bargaining rights. I don’t know if you find that comforting, but it’s true. I don’t know anyone who talks about teachers like that.
These people are my neighbors. They’re also, incidentally, sometimes my customers. They send their kids to the same schools my kids attend. I did not recognize these greedy, lazy self-interested “public employees” that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
As far as I’m concerned, “parents” had nothing to do with this, and I won’t take responsibility for it. You’re not my adversary, nor are you working against my 5th grader. That’s ridiculous.
I resent how this has been set up. I resent how I’m portrayed as “allied” with these ed reformers who I don’t know and don’t know my kid yet they are somehow my “savior” against the evil greedy teachers. That’s nonsense too. They made it up 🙂
LikeLike
I find everything you write (and 90% of what I read on this blog) comforting. In fact, anything from a parent has extra value, because you’re a voice that has power and legitimacy.
LikeLike
“Poll after poll shows that parents want their public schools properly funded, that funding is their number one issue, and that parents trust local teachers more than politicians or lobbyists.”
Then we have another “Poll” at election time:
“More Than Half of Ohio School Levies Passed
Lots of school-related tax issues popped up on ballots during this year’s election. And according to unofficial results, more than 60 percent of those nearly 200 issues passed. The majority of voters seemed to side with tax renewals, but voted against levies that asked for tax increases.” NOV, ’13
“Special Election Results Show One Third of School Levies Approved
Brian Talbot / Flickr Local voters approved six of 19 school tax issues on the ballot in yesterday’s special election, unofficial election results gathered by the Ohio School Boards Association show. That approval rate of 32 percent is similar to the results from last August’s special election. About 31 percent of school tax issues passed.” AUG ’13
The Ohio School Boards Association says that rate is consistent with the November 2011 levy passage rate of 51 percent.
The matter of trust is another issue…
“I swear to uphold the Constitution….”
The state high court first ruled that Ohio’s school funding model is unconstitutional in 1997 in DeRolph v. State.
Send Lawyers, Guns, and Money, the ship has hit the fan.
Oh wait, they’re already here. Now what?
LikeLike
I think one of the keys is defaming the lobbyists and testing industry. I think if parents could see where their tax dollars are going they would be outraged. Their taxes are paying for the wonderful high living of people in the testing industry. It’s an outrage but politicians won’t do a thing.
LikeLike
Dee Dee I think that is coming. Parents are realizing the loss of instruction time. That’s a start.
LikeLike
This is wonderful news. Thank Goodness for parents who get involved.
LikeLike