Times-Union/Siena Poll: 43% Do Not Support Current Use Of Standardized Tests

So many great things in the Times-Union/Siena poll on education issues that was released yesterday.

I have already posted how the public overwhelmingly supports teachers over the NYSED, the Regents and Governor Cuomo when it comes to doing what is right for children.

I have posted too about how the public isn't buying into the argument that schools are suffering from substandard technology and need a couple of billion for upgrades (so that testing can be conducted online, of course.)

Now I'd like to point out how the TU/Siena poll found that 43% of upstate New Yorkers do not support the current use of standardized tests while 29% do support the current use.

28% said they didn't know enough to say.

Now this is no slam dunk number of people opposed to the current use of standardized testing, but is a healthy plurality and if we have learned anything since the CCSS implementation started, the longer the education reform agenda goes, the higher the numbers of people opposed to it grow.

So while it's totally possible that the 28% who didn't know enough about the issue to respond to the question could join with those who support the use of testing as it is now, the likelihood is that a large number of those people will join the opposed group.

We've seen that happen with CCSS overall - the more people become familiar with the Common Core, the higher the negatives it receives in polls and the larger the opposition grows.

In the TU/Siena poll, 46% oppose the implementation of the CCSS while 32% support it and 32% don't know.

These CCSS numbers come pretty close to tracking the standardized testing numbers I noted above.

More and more, the public is coming to understand that CCSS and standardized testing go hand-in-hand.

So just as the opposition to CCSS is going to grow in the coming year, the same is likely to happen for standardized testing.

That's why even the Gates Foundation is calling for a moratorium on stakes attached to the CCSS tests for a couple of years.

They can see what's happening in the public with the CCSS and the standardized testing and they're looking to get a cool off period where the test stakes go out of the news for a while to give the CCSS time to regain some support.