A new poll by Siena College finds that public supports teachers, not Cuomo.
“Consider what voters said when asked about what hinders education in New York: Little parental involvement (37 percent), not enough money in schools (18 percent), the effects of poverty (17 percent), ineffective state oversight (12 percent), poor quality teachers (10 percent).”
The public backs teachers by 48-36.
Mercedes Schneider decided to analyze how the conservative journal “Ednext” gauges public opinion about one of its favorite reforms, charter schools.
She reviews the wording of the questions asked over several years.
She notes that Ednext never mentions charter school scandals, which are a hot topic in states like Michigan, Ohio, and Forida.
“There’s a lot of unregulated money to be made in “school choice”– so much so that the FBI is conducting investigations nationwide on criminal behavior rampant in America’s charter schools.
“That the gross negligence of states to regulate “choice” has yielded fertile ground for criminal activity appears to have escaped any survey question posed by EdNext.
“The hidden component of “choice” is the systematic dissolution of the traditional, local-school-board-run public school system. Indeed, EdNext is a corporate-reform-promoting nest that is especially fond of defunding traditional public education via under-regulated charter schools.”
She wonders about the wording of the questions:
“He never addresses charter scandals at all. Imagine if he had asked this version of his charter question:
“As you may know, many states permit the formation of charter schools, which are publicly funded but are not managed by the local school board and are exempt from many state regulations. Charter schools are prone to scandal, as evidenced by a recent nationwide, FBI investigation. Do you support or oppose the formation of charter schools?
“I’m thinking the “completely oppose” category would suddenly become rather popular.”
Schneider suggests a way to improve the poll:
“If Peterson and his EdNext followers really wanted to know what charter school parents think of “choice”– and the degree to which “choice” is “forced choice”– they could ask in their survey. They could ask charter parents why they do not “completely support” their “chosen” schools.
“They could also ask charter parents what exactly has them “somewhat supporting” or “neither supporting nor opposing” their “choice” schools.
“The opinions of the general public on charter schools are not as telling as the opinions of those actually utilizing the charter schools.
“But it appears that EdNext minds are already made up. Charter schools are good–and there will be no asking for potentially contradictory specifics from those who actually *choose* them.
“And certainly no questions connecting charters and the FBI. I mean, that would be really bad for charter “choice.”
This reader responds to the findings
of the PDK/Gallup poll, which showed a shift in public
opinion against testing, against using test scores to evaluate
teachers, and against public release of teacher personnel files and
ratings. “We said last year that we had a lot of hard work to do,
to inform and educate the parents we work with, to organize
communities and form effective coalitions of resistance…We said
it was going to be a herculean task. For the past year we each have
been busy doing just that. (I held a series of advocatcy workshps
for parents at my school, with my principal’s blessing) We have
been relentless promoting our cause in the media and on the
internet…constant unrelenting communicating and informing, always
learning. Knowledge is power. “Now we discover that since last
year, the percentages have shifted in favor of teachers, teacher
concerns and Public Education. I ask you, “Who said American public
educators are not effective teachers?” Just look at what we have
accomplished in a year! “We are AMAZING educators and incredible
motivators…Congratulations everyone (((cheers)))
(((applause)))… “Now we need to keep at it until every classroom
in our great nation is FREE of the corporate influence. Keep active
educating other teachers and supporting parents and encouraging
students to organize…the battle is shifting in our favor and it
is a battle, but the war is far from over. We can do
this!”
Most of us don’t have the time to dig down into polls and figure out the nuances of wording and responses. Fortunately for us, Mercedes Schneider has done it for us.
She here compares the AP-NORC poll which concluded that most parents like standardized testing to the PDK/Gallup poll, which found that only 22% of parents thought that standardized testing improved their school.
How did the two polls reach such different conclusions? Read Mercedes and find out.
By the way, Mercedes pronounces her name with the accent on the first syllable and a soft “e” in the second syllable, not like the car, which sounds like an “a” in the second syllable. Apparently, her renown in Louisiana has spread through her blog, and she is known by that unusual first name, like Cher and Madonna.
The new PDK/Gallup Poll had some amazingly good news for those parents and educators who have been fighting the movement to test, standardize, and quantify every last child, as well as to destroy public confidence in public education.
What this poll shows is that the public is not buying what the U.S. Department of Education and the corporate reform movement are selling.
They like their teachers and their schools. They don’t believe that standardized testing has helped their school. They don’t want test scores used to evaluate their teachers.
The message: Corporate reform lacks a popular base.
Here are some key findings:
*Only 22% of Americans “believe increased testing has helped the performance of local public schools.”
*A majority (58%) “reject using student scores from standardized tests to evaluate teachers.” This is a reversal from last year, when 52% approved of this obnoxious idea. The more people see that it mislabels teachers and disrupts schools, the less they like the idea.
*A majority (63%) oppose publishing teacher ratings in the media. This is a reversal from last year, when 51% favored this humiliating idea.
*A decisive majority (72%) “have trust and confidence” in teachers in the public schools. When the question is asked of people under 40, who are likeliest to have school-age children, the proportion grows to 78%.
*A bare majority (52%) supported the right of public school teachers to go on strike.
*A huge proportion (88%) of public school parents say their child is safe at school. Their greatest concern is not intruders but other students.
*A majority (68%) support charter schools.
*A large majority (70%) oppose vouchers for private schools. This is a very large increase from 2012, when only 55% opposed vouchers.
*Almost two-thirds of the public have never heard of the Common Core standards.
*Of those who have heard of the Common Core standards, most say they will either make the U.S. less competitive or make no difference.
*More than 90% of Americans “believe activities such as band, drama, sports, and newspaper are very or somewhat important,” with 63% saying “very important.”
Bottom line: The American people like their public schools, respect their teachers, do not like standardized testing, and do not want teachers evaluated by test scores.
They want their children to have a well-rounded education.
All common sense.
The annual Phi Delta Kappa-Gallup poll on education was released today.
The sponsors characterize public opinion as split, which is true for many issues.
We must see this poll in the context of an unprecedented, well-funded campaign to demonize public schools and their teachers over at least the past two years, and by some reckoning, even longer.
The media has parroted endlessly the assertion that our public schools are failures, they are (as Bill Gates memorably said to the nation’s governors in 2005) “obsolete,” and “the system is broken.” How many times have you heard those phrases? How many television specials have you seen claiming that our education system is disastrous? And along comes “Waiting for ‘Superman'” with its propagandistic attack on public education in cities and suburbs alike and its appeal for privatization. Add to that Arne Duncan’s faithful parroting of the claims of the critics.
That is the context, and it is remarkable that Americans continue to believe in the schools they know best and to understand what their most critical need is.
Here are the salient findings:
1. Americans have a low opinion of American education (how could they not, given the bombardment of criticism?): only 18% give it an A or B. And here is the real accomplishment of the corporate reformers: Those who judge American education as a D or F have increased from 22% to 30% in the past 20 years. Actually, their success in smearing U.S. education is even greater, because in 2002, before the implementation of NCLB, only 16% judged the nation’s schools so harshly. So the reform campaign has doubled the proportion of Americans who think the nation’s schools deserve a D or F.
2. When asked to evaluate the schools in their own community, 48% give them an A or B, which is the highest rating in 20 years.
3. When asked to evaluate the school their oldest child attends, an astonishing 77% give it an A or B. This is the highest rating in 20 years. Only 6% give it a D or F. This question elicits the views of informed consumers, the people who refer to a real school, not the hypothetical school system that is lambasted every other day in the national press or condemned as “obsolete” by Bill Gates.
4. When asked whether they have trust and confidence in teachers, 71% said yes. Americans continue to respect and admire teachers, despite the nonstop public bashing of them in the media.
5. When asked whether standardized test scores should be used to evaluate teachers, opinion split 52-47 in favor. Considering that the public has heard nonstop endorsements of this bad idea from President Obama, Secretary Duncan, and most other political figures–and very limited dissent–it is surprising that opinion is almost equally divided. How did so many Americans manage to figure out that this idea is problematic at best?
6. When people were asked to describe the teachers who had the greatest influence in their lives, they used words like caring, compassionate, motivating, and inspiring. Interesting that few remembered the teachers who raised their test scores.
7. There has been a big change in what the public sees as the biggest problems facing the schools today. Ten years ago, the biggest concerns were about discipline (fighting, gangs, drugs, lack of discipline, overcrowding). Today, the biggest problem that the public sees, by far, is lack of financial support. 35% chose that option. Among public school parents, it was 43%. Concerns about discipline almost faded away in comparison to concerns about the lack of financial support for the schools.
8. On the subject of vouchers, there was a surprising increase in the proportion who would support “allowing students to choose a private school at public expense.” It increased from 34% to 44%, which is a big jump. I recommend that future questioning ask about support to allow students “to choose a private or religious school at public expense.” That would be closer to the reality of voucher programs in Milwaukee, Cleveland, D.C., Louisiana, Ohio, and Indiana.
9. On the subject of charters, public opinion dipped, from an approval rating of 70% in 2011 to 66% in 2012. It will be interesting to see where this number goes as the public begins to understand more about charters in their own communities.
10. A question about the parent trigger was so vacuous as to be misleading. The question was “Some states are considering laws that allow parents to petition to remove the leadership and staff at failing schools. Do you favor or oppose such laws?” 70% favor, 76% of public school parents favor. This is a misleading question, however, as the parent trigger is not a matter of simply allowing parents to sign a petition, but of allowing parents to take control of a public school and hand it over to private management. My guess is that the public doesn’t know much about the parent trigger concept and hasn’t heard a discussion about the pros and cons. So, I don’t put much stock in the response–after all, why shouldn’t parents have the right to sign a petition to change the staff at their school? It does show how clever the corporate reformers are in framing issues that advance privatization and doing it in ways that are deceptive and alluring.
11. In a series of questions about the Common Core standards, most people believe they are a good thing and that they will make the nation more competitive globally; about half think they will improve the quality of education while 40% think they will have no effect. These answers exemplify why polls of this kind must be viewed with caution. I am willing to bet that the majority of respondents has no idea what the Common Core standards are; and willing to bet that 98% have never read them.
In future versions of the poll, I hope that questions will be asked about for-profit schools, privatization, and vouchers for religious schools. These are big issues today, and the poll should ask about them.
My takeaway from the 2012 poll is that the corporate reform movement has succeeded in increasing support for vouchers, but that the American public continues to have a remarkably high opinion of the schools and teachers they know best despite the concerted efforts of the reformers to undermine those beliefs. This is an instance where evidence trumps ideology. The reformers have not yet been able to destroy the bonds between the American people and their community’s schools.
GothamSchools this morning reports a new poll this morning, which includes a question about Mayor Bloomberg’s policy of closing schools with low test scores.
The poll showed rejection of mayoral control, as is now typical, but the closing-schools question was worded in peculiar fashion. Instead of asking, “Do you approve or disapprove of the mayor’s policy of closing schools” or in some relatively neutral way, the poll posed this alternative:
“Mayor Bloomberg wants to close a number of low performing public schools and replace them. Which comes closer to your point of view; this is good educational policy, or this is an attack on the teacher’s union?”
Now, as a matter of fact, I don’t see the closing-schools policy “as an attack on the teachers’ union.” I see it as part of a privatization and community destablization policy, one that leaves communities feeling hopeless and powerless. In my view, what happens to the union and its member is not a central issue, since its members will get jobs in other schools or get thrown into the make-rolls of Absent Teachers Reserves. Certainly, the policy is not good for the members of the union, but they are collateral damage. The major damage, when a traditional neighborhood school is closed, is to the local community. That’s why thousands of parents and students come out to protest at public hearings. They are not protesting at the behest of the union, they are protesting the loss of an institution that was a central part of their lives.
The closing of a neighborhood school, with its trophy cases and its memories, even the loss of its name, is a dagger into the heart of the community, just one more thread torn away, leaving people without the ties that made them a community.
Please, if anyone knows how to reach the people who construct the Quinniapiac polls at the CT university of that name, please ask them to rephrase the question. They are asking the wrong question.
Diane
P.S. My computer refuses to open the GothamSchools website, so I can’t post a link. Here is the story:
NEWS: Poll: Few NYers see school closures as sound education policy
Posted: 10 May 2012 04:40 AM PDT
Fewer than four in 10 New Yorkers think closing schools makes for sound education policy, according to the results of a new poll released today. And approval is lowest in the borough most hard-hit by school closures under the Bloomberg administration.
The poll, conducted by Quinnipiac University’s survey center, focused largely on 2013 mayoral race and found that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is a clear frontrunner among the Democratic candidates. But it also asked a raft of questions about education policy in the city.
Several of the questions had been asked before and yielded consistent results. New Yorkers still want the next mayor to share school control with an independent board, disapprove in large numbers of how Mayor Bloomberg is handling the city’s schools, and are divided about whether the teachers union exerts a positive force.
But one question had never appeared on a Quinnipiac poll before. It asked, “Mayor Bloomberg wants to close a number of low performing public schools and replace them. Which comes closer to your point of view; this is good educational policy, or this is an attack on the teacher’s union?”
Thirty-eight percent of poll respondents said they thought replacing struggling schools made educational sense. A larger number, 44 percent, said school closures represent an attack on the teacher’s union. Nearly 20 percent said they didn’t know how to answer the question.
The poll results suggest that personal proximity to school closures might breed opposition to the policy. Criticism of closures was highest in families with union members — but also in the Bronx, where closures have broken down almost all of the large high schools that were open a decade ago into small schools. Just a quarter of Bronx respondents said closure made educational sense. In Manhattan, where relatively few families have been affected by closures, support for closure was much higher, at 51 percent. And while 47 percent of respondents with children backed closure as a policy, that number was just 35 percent for parents of public school students.
The poll was conducted May 3-8, shortly after the city school board had approved the latest crop of closures, for 24 schools that would undergo a federally prescribed process known as “turnaround.” The UFT filed suit May 7 to halt turnaround, arguing that the atypical replacement plans don’t amount to closure at all.
Diane Ravitch's blog 