Last week I dissected the annual Education Next poll a bit, and today the newest Phil Delta Kappa/Gallup poll on the state of education is out. Let’s take a look at several of the same topics we examined in the EdNext poll, shall we?
Common Core
Last week’s survey featured questions with several different wordings about Core backing, and while they all showed the Core hemorrhaging support over the last few years, percentages approving ranged from 49 percent to 39 percent. PDK/Gallup asked just one question about Core support, and it had very different wording from any used by EdNext, focusing not on the intention of the Core – “accountability” – or describing the Core as “standards for reading and math that are the same across states,” but asking if respondents approve of “having the teachers in your community use the Common Core State Standards to guide what they teach.” In response, 54 percent appeared to oppose the Core and only 24 percent supported it. It’s an odd way to ask about Core support – how about just ask if people “support or oppose the Common Core” – but it is unquestionably true both that an intended effect of the Core is to guide what is taught, and that this is more bad news for the Core.
Federal Role
EdNext found what I thought was unexpectedly (and discouragingly) high support for having Washington in charge of “setting educational standards for what children should know,” but still very low approval of federal direction over labeling schools as “failing” and dictating how to fix such schools. PDK/Gallup did not ask directly about setting standards, but did ask which level of government should be “holding schools accountable” and “determining the right amount of testing.” What they found was in line with what EdNext found: Only about 1 in 5 respondents want Washington in charge, with most wanting states and districts in control. Maybe the Constitution does still count.