The new PDK/Gallup Poll is out, and it has some good information for any politician who cares about what the public thinks. We know that the Oligarchs don't care--they would not be trying to privatize public education and the teaching profession if they cared what the public thinks.
Here is the deal that I will make with the first ten politiicans aspiring to win or retain a U. S. House or U. S. Senate seat who are willing to support the following positions. An email from your office with your signature in support of these postions gets a $100 check from me. Ready?
SCHOOL TURNAROUNDS
While only 13% of Americans surveyed would choose to close a poor-performing school in their neighborhood and reopen it as a charter school, 54% would "keep the school open with existing teachers and principal and provide comprehensive outside support." Would you work to advance federal education policy that is consistent with these positions?
NATIONAL CURRICULUM AND STANDARDS
While 28% and 19% of Americans surveyed would have the federal government set education standards and decide what is taught, respectively, 69% and 80% would have education standards and what is taught decided at the state or local levels. Would you work to advance education policy that is consistent with these positions?
NCLB
While only 22% of Americans surveyed view No Child Left Behind as helping the public schools in their communities, 73% believe NCLB is hurting their local schools or making no difference in their local schools. Would you work to advance education policy that is consistent with these positions?
SUPPORT FOR LOCAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS
While 23% of Americans surveyed would grade the school they know most about, the one their oldest child attends, with a C, D, or F (only 1% F), the corporate reformers who run the U. S. Department of Education have declared an education crisis that requires turning public schools upside down or privatizing them. Even so, 77% of Americans would give the public school their oldest child attends an A or a B. Would you work to advance education policy that is consistent with these positions?
HOW SCHOOLS COULD EARN AN "A"
While only 6% of Americans surveyed view the implementation of standardized testing/grading as the way school could earn an "A," 34 percent believe the best way for a school to earn an A is to improve teaching. Last year in 2009, when the PDK poll asked Americans if they believed in "relaxing teacher education and certification plans so more people could qualify to teach these subjects," 71% said NO. Would you work, then, to advance education policy that is consistent with these positions?
VIEWS ON TEACHING AND TEACHERS
In 1990, 51% of Americans surveyed would like to have a one of their children to become a teacher in the public schools. In 2010 that 67% of Americans would like to have a child "take up teaching." Today 71% " trust and confidence in the men and women who are teaching children in the public schools." Despite the fact that the corporate education reform machine that runs ED spends overtime bashing teachers, criticizing their professionalism, and trying to embarrass them, would you work to advance education policy that is consistent with these positions offered by the PDK/Gallup survey?
TEACHER EVALUATION
While only 13% of Americans surveyed see the primary purpose of evaluating teachers as "establishing their salaries based upon their skills," 60% of Americans believe the primary purpose of teacher evaluation is "helping them improve their ability to teach." Would you work to advance education policy that is consistent with these positions?
PAYING STUDENTS
The vast majority of Americans, 76% reject the notion of paying students for good behavior or grades. Would you work to advance education policy that is consistent with these positions?
CHARTER SCHOOLS
The history of public attitudes in the PDK poll toward charter schools has been up and down and then up again. This year support has edged up to 68%. Even so, what the public knows about charter schools remains wildly uncertain. Last year in the 2009 PDK survey, for instance, a majority of 51% believed that charter schools are not public schools and 57% thought that charter schools charged tuition. Almost half (46%) believed charter schools are free to teach religion.
So it is clear from what Americans say that there is widespread confusion about the nature and function of charter schools. That being the case, would you work to educate the public about charter schools and how they affect public school funding, and would your advance education policy that is consistent with the most reliable research findings on the value of charter schools when compared to student performance in public schools and when the negative social and pedagogical effects (segregation and test prep) of charter schools are taken into account?
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