POLL FINDS BIG PUBLIC DISCONNECT BETWEEN VIEWS ON SCHOOL TESTING, PUSH TO COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS

45th Annual PDK/Gallup Poll Shows “A Nation Confused”

ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 21, 2013 – At a time when 45 states and the District of Columbia are phasing in new Common Core State Standards and the student tests that go with them, the American public increasingly does not believe that extensive standardized testing is improving public schools, a new survey shows.

Most of those surveyed also give the nation’s public schools a “C” for quality even though they give their own local schools an “A” or “B.” They express great trust and confidence in public school teachers and principals, support the growth of charter schools and see nothing wrong with home schooling. But the public is divided on a variety of other issues ranging from school security and teacher evaluations to educating the children of parents who entered the country illegally.

Those and other findings are contained in the 45th edition of the PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools. Conducted annually by PDK International in conjunction with Gallup, the poll is the longest-running survey of American attitudes toward education and thus provides an extensive and trusted repository of data documenting how the public’s viewpoint on public education has changed over the decades.

“Americans’ mistrust of standardized tests and their lack of confidence and understanding around new education standards is one the most surprising developments we’ve found in years,” said William Bushaw, executive director of PDK International and co-director of the PDK/Gallup poll. “The 2013 poll shows deep confusion around the nation’s most significant education policies and poses serious communication challenges for education leaders.”

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