The poll was conducted by Siena and here's the question I want to look at closely today:
Now after thinking about education in New York these past few minutes, I'm going to read you the names of several individuals and groups involved in public education. Tell me for each if you: completely trust them to do what is best for New York's students, somewhat trust them, only trust them a little, or do not trust them at all to do what is best for students.
Here is how those polled responded:
Andrew Cuomo:
Completely Trust - 9%
Somewhat Trust - 41%
Only Trust A Little - 17%
Do Not Trust At All - 30%
John King:
Completely Trust - 4%
Somewhat Trust - 39%
Only Trust A Little - 16%
Do Not Trust At All - 21%
Teachers Unions:
Completely Trust - 16%
Somewhat Trust - 41%
Only Trust A Little - 19%
Do Not Trust At All - 21%
Local School Board:
Completely Trust - 19%
Somewhat Trust - 52%
Only Trust A Little - 13%
Do Not Trust At All - 13%
Legislature:
Completely Trust - 4%
Somewhat Trust - 37%
Only Trust A Little - 24%
Do Not Trust At All - 32%
Board of Regents:
Completely Trust - 11%
Somewhat Trust - 48%
Only Trust A Little - 20%
Do Not Trust At All - 18%
Teachers in Local Schools:
Completely Trust - 40%
Somewhat Trust - 48%
Only Trust A Little - 7%
Do Not Trust At All - 4%
To put this into perspective, the public either completely or somewhat trusts teachers to do what is right for NY students by an 88%-11% margin, completely or somewhat trusts their local school boards to do what is right for NY students by a 71%-26% margin, completely or somewhat trusts Cuomo to do what is right for NY students by a 50%-47% margin, completely or somewhat trusts King to do what is right for NY students by a 43%-37% margin, completely or somewhat trusts the Regents 57%-37% and completely or somewhat trusts teachers unions to do what is right for students 57%-40%.
In short, teachers are the most trusted individual or group involved in education, the second most trusted group is the local school board.
Trailing WAY BEHIND these two groups are the Board of Regents and the teachers unions.
Trailing behind that is Governor Cuomo, with a 3% plurality of trust over distrust.
Even further under that is NYSED Commissioner John King (he also only has a slim plurality trusting him to do what's right for students but he's well under 50%.)
The one group that is more distrusted than trusted to do what is right for students is the Legislature.
This poll was conducted upstate and there is a lot more to dig into in coming days - including on CCSS, technology spending, parental involvement, testing and teacher evaluations.
But I felt it was important to get a post up today about this extraordinary poll that shows teachers are BY FAR the most trusted of individuals or groups to do what is right for NY students while Cuomo and King barely enjoy pluralities of trust over distrust and King is well under 50% in that trust.
Also, take note of the numbers teachers unions get in the poll - they're tied with the Regents in public esteem (though with slightly higher negatives.)
That's something to be thinking about going into the coming teacher tenure fight here in New York.
One final point I want to bring up here.
Merryl Tisch said a few years ago that the public widely dislikes teachers, but they would like them more once a teacher evaluation system was put into place to hold them accountable for student performance.
The Siena/Times-Union poll shows wide skepticism around Ms. Tisch's battery of reforms, including teacher evaluations, but the one thing it does NOT show skepticism in is the trust the public has for teachers.
