The Gates-funded poll called “Primary Sources” shows that teachers are souring on the Common Core. The report is co-sponsored annually by Gates and publisher Scholastic.
Emmanuel Felton of the HECHINGER Report writes:
“Fewer teachers are enthusiastic about Common Core implementation and fewer think the new standards will help their students, according to a survey sponsored by education publisher Scholastic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
“The percentage of teachers who are enthusiastic about Common Core – a set of academic guidelines in math and English that more than 40 states have adopted – is down from 73 percent last year to 68 this year, according to a poll of 1,600 teachers across the country. And while more teachers continue to believe that the standards will help not hurt their students – 48 percent compared to 17 percent – the percentage of teachers in the survey who think the Common Core standards will be good for most of their students is down sharply from 57 percent in last year’s poll. The percentage of teachers who think it will hurt has more than doubled from 8 percent to 17 percent. And the percentage of teachers who think the standards won’t make much of a difference remained the same at 35 percent.”
The Gates-Scholastic poll is at odds with other polls. It shows support among a large majority of teachers, which is declining. Others show opposition among a majority of teachers.
The Ednext poll shows that a majority of teachers in the nation now oppose the Common Core. The Ednext poll shows a one-year drop in support among teachers from 76% to 46%.
A recent poll in Tennessee conducted by Vanderbilt University found that 59% of teachers in the state want to abandon Common Core. “With the future of Common Core under fire in Tennessee, a new report from the Tennessee Consortium on Research, Evaluation and Development could provide more ammunition to those who want to roll back the standards.
“The new 2014 survey, undertaken by a group led by Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development and released Wednesday, found that just 39 percent of respondents believe that teaching to the standards will improve student learning — compared with 60 percent who said the same last year.
“It also found 56 percent of the 27,000 Tennessee teachers who responded to the survey want to abandon the standards, while 13 percent would prefer to delay their implementation. Only 31 percent want to proceed. The 2013 survey did not ask questions in this area.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“I want to say one word to you — just one word: Rebranding!”
Quick, they should use Randi’s AFT poll! Yeah that’s the ticket.
Education is too systematized, bureaucratic and inefficient, it needs less framework rules and more charter schools.
Or,
Education is inefficient because it is not systematized enough, and needs more rigid central control.
Which is it? Can’t have it both ways.
If they can judge teachers based on CC test scores, then I have no trouble judging the standards based on student performance. A state wide failure rate of 70% (2 year average) is all the data I need. An EPIC FAIL. An utter and shameful waste of time, energy, and taxpayer money. Thirteen years of test-and-punish reform has accomplished nothing. But much worse, it violates the sacred oath of “do no harm”.
NYS,
Your comment suggests that a different failure rate would lead you to possibly come to a different conclusion. What would that rate be?
Wake up TE. you’re not in Kansa anymore.
NY Teacher,
I recognize the quote but don’t understand how it is a response to my post. If a 70% failure rate, by itself, leads you to conclude that a test is illegitimate, what would failure rates would lead you to believe that a test might be legitimate?
It is as relevant as your Mobius Strip questions
NY Teacher,
Is it the test or the cut score that NYS Teacher objects to? From the comment it appears to be the cut score, a problem easily corrected by changing the cut score.
You cannot prove a test is valid in such a direct approach. However, there are plenty of contradictions to prove the high stakes testing process invalid.
MatnVale,
I am not trying to prove anything, I am trying to understand the post. Would a different cut score make the CC exam legitimately? It would certainly change the percentage of students who pass the exam, and perhaps would lead NYS Teacher to change his or her mind about the legitimacy of the test without having to change the test.
The entire common core business, from its conception, implementation and now this evaluation of its acceptance and success, if one were to believe this poll, reminds me of M.S. Escher’s Ants on a Mobius Strip.
Frankly, I am surprised to see that there are any teachers who actually believe in common core. I am around a good many teachers and I do not think I know one who feels common core benefits the students – not one. At lunch everyone shares their “developmentally inappropriate materials of the day” and you can hear collective… “unbelievable”… “absurd”… “you are joking right”????? And it never ends.
They never mention which teachers they poll. The majority of HS teachers have been unaffected by the CC standards. They are just starting to creep into 9th and 11th grade here in NY. If they polled teachers in grades 3 to 8, I think you would see a vet different result.
Those of us directly impacted under NCLB and now RTTT/Waiver relief, would paint a much darker picture. And dont forget, the majority of 3 to 8 teachers have yet to suffer the Big Smackdown coming courtesy of PARCC and SBACA this spring.
HS getting it, too. The HS CC math tells you what, when, and how to teach. No room for adaptation. No innovation. Add to that the teacher-destroying VAM insanity.
“Gates Pol(l)s”
Gates-funded polls
And Gates-funded pols
Different spelling
Identical goals
Love it!
Let President Obama, your Representatives, and Senators know how you feel.
4,504 emails and letters have been sent to date. Political pressure is a must in order for Congress to re-write or repeal the Elementary and Secondary education Act which is the federal law that lies at the root of the Common Core problem.
http://www.petition2congress.com/15080/stop-common-core-testing/?m=5265435
Thanks. I did. I also sent hard copy letters.
I was NOT happy with Sen. Charles Schumer’s latest reply to my letter about the plight of education in NYS. It was glib, perfunctory, and surprisingly unsettling. It doesn’t mean he’s not getting another one. Evidently I did not make myself very clear. Grrrr. You’re on my radar, Chuck.
I see support from some of the very young teachers in our sites. As a result, they have become the voice of our school at PTA meetings, Curriculum Night, etc. Any public function: that’s who you’ll be hearing from. I speak and present at these same functions, but never mention the CCSS. So far I haven’t been chastised for this “omission”.
These young teachers are always citing the CCSS as a source for their aligned curriculum and trying to reassure the parents that it’s all in the child’s (and nation’s) best interest. At a recent public event, one of them called the CCSS “the most important educational advancement in generations”.
These positive feelings are not shared by all of us, by any means. It’s just that the people who the public and media are going to hear from are those who are cheering the CCSS on.
In their defense, I have to say that they are very hardworking and enthusiastic people. This does NOT mean that those who are NOT believers don’t work hard. Quite the contrary, actually. It’s just that they’re not as “enthusiastic”.
Many of those I know who are on the CCSS bandwagon have never worked with anything other than those standards. When I mention the quality of the state standards we worked with in the past, I get skeptical inquiries and even downright accusations that I’m lying about their very existence. I brought in a couple of past projects to prove my point, once. They had references to all the state standards being employed, from beginning to end. Really good, fun projects. The reactions were somewhat “Harumph…well…you’re a good teacher”-like. (There’s a new word for you). They said that the CCSS makes it so that everyone will be a good teacher.
73% approval last year !!!! which teachers were they polling???? I haven’t found one colleague who thinks CC$$ is even remotely appropriate for students.
There have been some teachers even here on this blog who have expressed support for the Math CCSS.
I’m still waiting for someone to ask me. Let me at ’em for I have a few words.
To me this is fascinating- the spin of Real Clear Education and Politico on this story:
Real Clear Education’s daily email blast:
“Despite widespread controversy over the Common Core State Standards, the use of the new set of standards is going well, according to a survey released today by Scholastic and the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation. A majority of the teachers across the country polled for the survey said they feel more prepared to teach a curriculum aligned to the standards, and are already seeing improvements in student performance. But enthusiasm for the Common Core has dropped since last year, and just half say the new standards will yield positive student outcomes.”
Politico Morning Education Report:
“GOOD NEWS FOR COMMON CORE BACKERS: Teachers feel like Common Core implementation is going pretty well this year compared to last year, and they’re feeling more prepared to teach the standards. Scholastic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are out with an update to a survey first conducted in 2013. The positive results fly in the face of a number of studies released over the last several months. (For example, two national polls released last month [http://politico.pro/1oQ678O ] found the public souring on the Common Core.) The survey results from more than 1,600 school teachers find that a majority are enthusiastic about the standards and are finding positive effects on student learning. http://bit.ly/YWpCkT”
Thank goodness for such dispassionate and serious “observers” in the dialog surrounding the corporate takeover of our schools, making it all sound so darned reasonable . . . God help us.