After a survey found support for Common Core shrinking, a second poll found an outright majority opposes the standards.
Only 33 percent of U.S. adults who have heard of Common Core favor its use in the nation’s classrooms, compared to 59 percent who are opposed, the Gallup poll found.
Opposition to the standards is higher among those who claim to know more about the standards, with 59 percent of those who claim to know “a great deal” about Common Core opposing it. However, knowledge was not actually tested as part of the poll, so it is possible respondents could be over- or under-valuing how much they understood Common Core.
Among opponents, the top reason for opposing the standards, cited by 65 percent as a “very important” reason for their opposition, was that they would limit the flexibility of teachers to teach as they wish. Fifty-one percent said a very important reason to oppose the standards was that the teachers in their own community oppose them.
Among those who supported Common Core, the most agreed-upon reasons for supporting the standards were that they would allow for students to learn the same concepts regardless of where they attend school and that they would lead to more useful standardized test results.
The poll suggests that more and more Americans are becoming acquainted with Common Core as the standards have started to be fully implemented. Only 19 percent of respondents said they were totally unfamiliar with the standards, a significantly lower amount than in past surveys.
The questions on Common Core were parts of a larger survey on public education conducted annually by Gallup in collaboration with the Phi Delta Kappa professional organization for educators. The poll is not without its critics. The Center for Education Reform, a pro-charter school organization, put out a statement prior the poll’s release, saying that the poll contains systematic biases towards status quo conditions over various reform efforts.
Views on Common Core were significantly more negative than those seen in another poll released Monday by Education Next. That poll found a major drop in Common Core support from 2013 to 2014 but still found 53 percent of people supporting the standards while only 28 percent were opposed.
The poll was administered from May 29-June 20, surveyed 1,001 adults, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.
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