Ten-year Trends in public places Opinion from your EdNext Poll: Common Core and Vouchers Down, but a majority of Other Reforms Still Popular : Education Next

Executive Summary

In its 10th annual survey of yank public opinion, conducted in May and June of 2016, Education Next finds the demise of college reform is greatly exaggerated. Public support continues to be high as always for federally mandated testing, charter schools, tax credits to help with private school choice, merit purchase teachers, and teacher tenure reform. However, backing for any Common Core State Standards and college vouchers fell to new lows in 2016. As in previous polls, Democrats tend to be more supportive of Common Core than Republicans are, and now we find polarization along party lines on any other issues. Surprisingly, more Democrats than Republicans support vouchers aiimed at low-income students, tax credits, and vouchers for those families (universal vouchers).

Note: Throughout our analysis, we disregard all neutral responses to poll questions and base our percentages only on responses indicating a situation in either favor of or in opposition to the proposal you want.?

Standards, Testing, and Accountability

Common Core State Standards. In 2016, 50% of the those using a side say they keep the utilization of the Common Core standards inside their state, down from 58% in 2015 and from 83% in 2013. Republican backing has plummeted from 82% in 2013 to 39% in 2016. The slip among Democrats is produced by 86% to 60% over now period. Eighty-seven percent of teachers supported the initiative in 2013, but that fell to 54% in 2014 and then to 44% in 2015, stabilizing in that level in 2016.

Same standards generally speaking. When “Common Core” is not really mentioned, two-thirds back the usage of a similar standards across states as compared to a much split when the name Common Core is roofed within the question. The everyday Core “brand” is primarily toxic to Republicans, that happen to be 22 percentage points more unlikely to respond favorably should the name is mentioned, compared to a differential of 10 percentage points among Democrats.

Testing.?Nearly 4 out of 5 respondents, on the same like for example 2015, favor the federal requirement that most students be tested in math and reading in each grade from 3rd through 8th and at least once in secondary school. Support among Republicans, at 74%, is just modestly below among Democrats, at 80%.?However, teacher support for testing, at 52%, is noticeably lower.

Parental opt-out. Seventy percent of your public oppose letting parents opt their children out of state tests, exactly the same percentage as in 2015. Among teachers, opposition to opt-out has declined from 64% in 2015 to 57% in 2016.

School Choice Initiatives

Charter schools. Overall public support for charters has remained quite stable since 2013. In 2016 the share favoring charters is 65%, roughly similar to in past times 4 years. Seventy-four percent of Republicans back charters, only 58% of Democrats do, a spot of 16 percentage points relating to the parties.

School vouchers.?Suprisingly, backing both for targeted and universal vouchers is bigger among Democrats than Republicans, though public support for both types has declined. Whereas 55% within the public favored targeted vouchers in 2012, only 43% do in 2016. The decline was particularly severe among Republicans, falling from 51% to 37%. Among Democrats, support slipped from 58% to 49%.

The rise in popularity of vouchers for a lot of families (universal vouchers) has reached a brand new low. In 2014, these folks were common with 56% in the public, only 50% back them in 2016. In terms of universal vouchers, 51% of Republicans liked taking that approach in 2014, while just 45% do in 2016. Democratic support for such vouchers has expanded from 49% in 2013 to 56% in 2016.

Tuition tax credits. In 2016, 65% within the public say they favor tax credits for donations to foundations that really help low-income students attend private schools, reflecting a modest decline from 70% support in 2013. The plan finds greater support among Democrats, at 69%, than among Republicans, at 60%. Just 47% of teachers favor tax credits.

Teachers

Teacher effectiveness. In 2016, Matt Kraft of Brown University and Allison Gilmour of Vanderbilt studied the ratings teachers received in 19 states that have reformed their teacher evaluation systems. In no state did the fraction receiving an unsatisfactory rating exceed 4%. To determine whether or not the public-and teachers themselves-hold similarly sanguine views of teacher performance, we asked respondents to say the proportion of teachers with their local schools they can assign to every single of four years old categories: unsatisfactory, satisfactory, good, and excellent. Mostly, respondents rate 15% of teachers as unsatisfactory. Teachers supply the unsatisfactory rating to 10% of the colleagues.

Merit pay. Asked their opinion on “basing area of the salaries of teachers regarding how much their students learn,” 60% on the public express support for your idea in 2016. That percentage has remained relatively constant since 2008. Sixty-three percent of Republicans favor merit pay, when compared with 57% of Democrats. Teachers remain largely united in opposition to merit pay, with just 20% expressing support.

Tenure. Mentioned support for “giving tenure to teachers,” just 31% with the public express a fine view in 2016, an amount which has declined by 10 percentage points since 2013. Forty-one percent of Democrats and 29% of Republicans favor teacher tenure. The public’s opposition to tenure contrasts with 67% support for that practice among teachers.

Teachers unions. Just short of half (49%) of respondents say unions have a very generally positive effects on schools. Democratic and Republican views diverge, with 65% of your former and just 31% within the latter by taking your position. In 2016, 76% of teachers say unions possess a generally positive effect, a growth from 64% in 2013.

Blended Learning

The number of people who said a minimum of 30% of instructional period in high school graduation must be allocated to some type of computer declined from 60% to 2015 to 55% in 2016. Among parents, the change was from 57% to 51%.

Grading Schools

In 2016, 55% of an individual give their local schools either a b or a B, a larger share than at any time during the past Few years. Throughout the decade, the shift upward is from 43% to 55%. However, only 25% offer the nation’s schools as one one of them top grades.

Racial Disparities at college Discipline

Only 28% of teachers and also the public favor a federal policy that prevents schools from expelling or suspending black and Hispanic students at higher rates than other students, a share that has not changed during the last year. In 2016, 48% of black respondents express support for the idea, down from 65% in 2015. Among Hispanic respondents, 39% express support, comparable together year ago.

Financing K