Listen to American opinions

Without knowing exactly what Americans said in this year’s PDK/Gallup poll, we can be sure they know more about the Common Core, like their local schools, and want better teaching.

Writing the Washington View column for this issue of Kappan is tricky business. It is early July as I write, but this column will be published in the magazine’s September issue. Most loyal readers know that every September Kappan publishes the annual PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools, which contains a wealth of information and analysis about public opinion on education. Since I haven’t yet seen the results of this year’s poll, I have to be careful not to prattle on about the current state of public education, only to have the American public prove that I’m misguided and out of the loop.

Our system of public education, with its uniquely local power base, is at times a study in contrasts.

I like the PDK/Gallup poll because we get to see education through the eyes of the public, not the pundits. Our system of public education with its uniquely local power base is at times a study in contrasts. For example, year after year the poll reports that the public has concerns about public education, but they overwhelmingly claim satisfaction with their local schools. This phenomenon plays out every time a superintendent wants to close a school that’s clearly not serving students, but she’s met with tough opposition from parents and community who want to keep it open. Even people who live in neighborhoods with terrible, unsafe schools seem to support “their schools” and “their teachers” even when they’re not educating their children to a level that’s acceptable, let alone desirable.

I’m not sure anyone really understands what creates this contrast, but I love that the poll reveals it to us. Maybe this is caused in part by a simple case of civic pride. While most people agree that the nation’s public schools should provide all students with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed, there’s also a strong precedent to view public education as a catalyst for civic coherence. My ancestors went to great lengths to become “American,” and the local public school systems they embraced played an essential role in that process. Perhaps the public is willing to look favorably on its own schools even when they’re not worthy simply because they represent their place in the world. In a nation as wonderfully diverse and constantly changing as ours, the presence and continuity of a local school may offer a refuge that clouds even the harshest reality.

Discomfort with tests

It may also reflect the public’s discomfort with test scores and how we’re using them to identify schools as “high performing” or “failing” or “in need of improvement.” Despite a growing sentiment that test scores aren’t the only indicator of achievement and quality that matter, most school systems nonetheless are judged by student test scores. Judging schools this way and then identifying them with overly simplistic labels is a recipe for confusion, anxiety, and even anger. I suspect many communities are, at best, skeptical of those who judge their local schools because they don’t trust whatever entity is judging them and/or because they believe the system is fundamentally unfair. Therefore when asked what they think about their own school, most people do what we all do when we feel we are being judged unfairly: We stick up for ourselves.

Finally, I think the explanation has something to do with the complexity of the nation’s public education system. Trying to map the governance structure of our highly decentralized system is like trying to figure out all the characters on HBO’s “Game of Thrones” — all you really know is that there are lots of actors, and they don’t always play nice together. Making sense of the lines of authority and accountability that run from school to district to state to Congress and the U.S. Department of Education can overwhelm even the most determined individual. Most people overcome this confusion by focusing on the positive aspects of their own schools and see the rest of the system as a confusing morass of news articles, magazine covers, films about education, and Bill Gates.

If the poll allows us to get a better understanding of the public view on complex issues like the Common Core, then it is providing an important service to all of us.

I also like the way the poll sometimes surprises the education community. Last year, much to the surprise of many education policy makers, the poll revealed that only a small fraction of respondents had even heard of the Common Core State Standards, an issue that loomed large in the education policy space. This year’s poll will probably reflect far more familiarity with the Common Core, so it will be interesting to compare those findings with what the mainstream media has conveyed. If the poll gives a better understanding of the public’s view on complex issues like the Common Core, then it’s providing an important service to all of us.

Changing demographics

Personally, I’m eager to find out what and if other Americans are thinking about some of the issues that have occupied my mind this past summer. (See pp. 8-20 for the report’s first installment. For example, do most Americans understand the profound change in student demographics that has happened over the past decade and will continue in the years ahead? As public school enrollment continues to rise — especially in the prekindergarten through 8th grades — the student population will continue its decades-long transformation. By 2021, the number of Latino students will increase by 24%. The number of Asian/Pacific Island students will increase by 26%. And the number of students who classify themselves as two or more races will increase by 34%. Those changes are having a profound effect on the nation’s public schools (and will no doubt influence the immigration debate), but are most Americans aware of it? For those who happen to live in communities where it is impossible not to know this (Texas and California, for example), what do people think? Are communities building an infrastructure to maximize the potential benefits of these changes, or are they burying their heads?

A better ‘farm club’

The status of the teaching profession also continues to be a topic that generates a range of opinions and emotions — which Kappan will report on extensively in its October issue. High-stakes teacher evaluations based on student test scores are at the eye of the storm, but there are other issues to deal with as well. In a recent poll by the independent organization Third Way (www.thirdway.org), high-achieving undergraduate students described the teaching profession as “out of line with the tenets they most value in a career.” Only 35% described teachers as “smart,” and education was seen as the top profession that “average” people choose. Others have compared teaching to missionary work.

If American schools will need to hire 3 million new teachers over the next 10 years, what are we doing to ensure — to use a baseball term — that our farm club is developing the talent we will need to succeed? We know the public supports its local teachers, but how much thought do most people devote to the overall profession? If the teaching profession is going to evolve enough to meet the demands of a 21st-century learning environment (read: higher standards, technology, changing demographics, etc.), then this nation needs some skin in the game.

So for now all I can do is hope that I have not made myself look a fool. For better or worse, here in Washington, we talk amongst ourselves all the time about education. Yet despite best intentions, there are always instances where we assume too much or recognize too little about what is happening out in the real world. Thankfully we have the poll to keep us in the loop.

Citation: Ferguson, M. (2014). Washington view: Listen to American opinions. Phi Delta Kappan, 96 (1), 74-75.