With a major statehouse rally planned today in support of Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz, the state Teacher’s Union recently released a poll that has some interesting results when it comes to charter schools and standardized testing.
The poll of 600 registered voters, commissioned in November, showed 50 percent of voters rated schools overall as good or excellent while 37 percent rated schools as fair and nine percent as poor. However, when it came to their neighborhood schools, 73 percent rated the schools as excellent or good, while just 24 percent rated their local schools as just fair or poor.
On the issue of whether there is “too much testing” in schools, only 25 percent of those asked said there was too much focus on standardized testing in their own schools and 24 percent thought there was too much testing overall. More respondents thought a lack of parental involvement was the biggest challenge schools faced.
Some other interesting thoughts…
- 55 percent thought school funding had been cut over the past few years.
- 41 percent favored expanding charter schools, while 38 percent opposed.
- 57 percent opposed allow parents to use vouchers to take their children out of under-performing public schools.
- 61 percent thought Indiana schools were average when compared to the rest of the nation’s schools.
- 60 percent thought teachers were underpaid.
Another interesting fact, 50 percent thought the state was on the right track, while 35 percent thought Indiana was going in the wrong direction.
A copy of the poll can be found here.
