New National Education Poll: Voters Overwhelmingly Oppose Closing Schools Based on High-Stakes, Standardized Testing

Washington, D.C. — A new national survey of likely general election voters finds overwhelming opposition to closing local schools based primarily on the results of high-stakes, standardized test scores. Additionally, voters believe that all public schools, whether charter schools or traditional brick and mortar schools, should be held to the same accountability and closure standards. The nationwide survey was conducted by McLaughlin & Associates in November and analyzes voter attitudes about standardized testing and school closure.

“Republicans and Democrats are united in their agreement that public schools should not be closed based primarily on standardized test scores,” said Stuart Polk, vice-president at McLaughlin & Associates. “Voters don’t consider standardized tests the best method to measure school and student performance. They want school evaluation systems that focus more on individual student measurements instead of aggregated standardized test scores for the entire school.”

According to a November 18-21, 2016 McLaughlin & Associates poll:

  • Overwhelmingly, 78% of voters oppose closing public schools based primarily on standardized test scores
  • Just 16% of voters consider standardized test scores to be a good measure of school quality, while 14% consider it a good indicator of student success
  • 73% of voters favor evaluation systems that measure how well a school helps individual students improve year to year, versus average standardized test scores
  • By a nearly 3 to 1 ratio, voters favor evaluating schools using a dashboard-like system which uses multiple measurements to assess quality and performance versus a single A to F letter grade
  • Only 3% think closing low performing schools is the most important education issue
  • 91% believe a formal public hearing should be required before a school closes so parents can discuss the impact; 61% strongly agree
  • 86% believe all public schools, whether charter or traditional brick and mortars, should be held to the same accountability and closure standards
  • 86% believe students should not be forced to leave their school just because other students are under-performing
  • 83% to 11%, voters prefer to keep struggling schools open to help them improve versus closing them

As the Trump administration considers education policy and state legislatures convene in January, this survey highlights for policy makers and elected officials the need for student-centered accountability systems – rather than over reliance on aggregated standardized test scores – to measure school and student success. Visit www.publicschooloptions.org to read the entire survey results.

Featured

  • Springfield Breaks Ground on $53.7M Pipkin Middle School Rebuild

    Construction is underway on a new, state-of-the-art Pipkin Middle School in Springfield, Mo., a major step in Springfield Public Schools’ (SPS) long-term facility improvement plan, according to local news. The $53.7-million project officially broke ground in early June, following years of planning and community input aimed at modernizing aging infrastructure and addressing student capacity concerns.

  • ProTeam Launches GoFit 6 HEPA Backpack Vacuum

    Technology leader Emerson recently introduced the new ProTeam GoFit 6 HEPA backpack vacuum, according to a news release. The vacuum was designed to capture 99.97% of particulates down to 0.3 microns—including atmospheric hazards like lead dust, mold spores, and other particulates—through an advanced filtration system.

  • California High School Starts Construction on New CTE Building

    Analy High School, part of the West Sonoma County Union High School District (WSCUHSD) in Sebastopol, Calif., recently broke ground on a new Career Technical Education (CTE) Building, according to a news release. The 15,000-square-foot facility will offer specialized facilities for students in engineering, welding, culinary arts, agricultural sciences, and design thinking.

  • modern college building with circuit and brain motifs

    Anthropic Introduces Claude for Education

    Anthropic has launched a version of its Claude AI assistant tailored for higher education institutions. Claude for Education "gives academic institutions secure, reliable AI access for their entire community," the company said, to enable colleges and universities to develop and implement AI-enabled approaches across teaching, learning, and administration.

Digital Edition