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Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Education Week: Poll Finds Support for Obama School Agenda


Education Week: Poll Finds Support for Obama School Agenda:

"Despite record amounts of federal money flowing to America’s schools, the recession has heightened concern about school funding. Lack of money for schools was listed as the biggest problem affecting public schools, with a record 32 percent of pollrespondents giving it top priority.
Despite all the debate and concern among policymakers about teacher quality and effectiveness—the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for example, is set to spend $500 million in an attempt to improve teacher effectiveness—Americans don’t seem quite as concerned. Just 3 percent of poll respondents said a lack of good teachers is the biggest problem for schools in their communities."

As it has grown in importance, the PDK/Gallup Poll has fueled debate regarding K-12 schooling, and charges of bias are routine. With that in mind, we have gradually reshaped the poll report to make it user-friendly and to draw the reader into the analysis of the data. We report the data, state what we believe they say, and leave it to the reader to reach his or her own conclusions.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/10425651/Phi-Delta-KappaGallup-Poll-of-the-Public’s-Attitudes-Toward-the-Public-Schools