Education Next released its 10th annual national poll of education, and the findings revealed some interesting (and conflicting) opinions on things like Common Core and the public school system in general.

When not using the “Common Core” label, 55% of respondents agreed with using the same standards across states to teach students reading and math skills. Specifically, 46 percent of teachers and 57 percent of parents voted in favor of the standards.

When asking the same question but this time specifically talking about Common Core, only 42 percent of the general public supported the standards, with only 41 percent of teachers and 42 percent of parents in support this time.

This further reveals the Common Core’s tendency to leave a bad taste in people’s mouths thanks to many people’s unfamiliarity with what the standards actually entail.

Interestingly enough, the survey found that the general public is not as opposed to standardized testing as we might think.

Only 25 percent of the general public said they support the opt-out movement, or the parent’s decision to let their children sit out of standardized tests. 63 percent even support using the same standardized tests across states to measure student achievement with.

The survey also revealed how polarizing the issue of school discipline now is.

When the survey asked respondents:

"Do you support or oppose school district policies that prevent schools from expelling or suspending black and Hispanic students at higher rates than other students?”

Most were opposed. 58 percent of teachers said they opposed such preventative disciplinary policies, perhaps because many find that such disciplinary policies prevent them from controlling unruly students.

When asked how they would grade our country’s public schools, overall the general public said they would give their local schools a solid “B.” On a national level, however, favorable opinion dropped slightly with most respondents instead giving them a “C.”

According to NPR, this is a textbook example of a “mere-exposure effect.”

"Essentially, people tend to like things better the more they are familiar with them,” NPR said.

The survey revealed some good news for teachers. The general public can agree that teachers deserve a pay raise.

65 percent of the public said teacher salaries should increase, while not-so-surpisingly 89 percent of teachers said the same.

Read more about the survey results here, and use the interactive graphic here for an at-a-glance view of the findings. 

Nicole Gorman, Senior Education World Contributor

8/23/2016