Reality Check 2006: Is Support for Standards and Testing Fading?

Publication Date: June 2006

Publisher: Public Agenda Foundation

Author(s): Amber Ott; Ana Maria Arumi; Jean Johnson

Research Area: Education

Type: Report

Abstract:

The third in a series of Reality Check reports finds that five years into the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act and over a dozen years into the so-called standards movement in American education, the public now sees these reforms as "necessary, but not sufficient." This is consistent across a number of indicators among all groups surveyed by Public Agenda--parents, students, teachers and administrators. The percentage of parents who say lack of emphasis on basics is a very serious problem at their child's school has dropped from more than a quarter (28%) in 1994 to one in five now (20%). The percentage of parents who say low academic standards is a very serious problem in their child's school has dropped from 26% in 1994 to 15% now.