Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Polls vs Polls vs Reality « Deborah Meier on Education

Polls vs Polls vs Reality « Deborah Meier on Education:



Polls vs Polls vs Reality

The nice news in the Phi Delt Kappan poll on education is that after an unprecedented onslaught from the media, columnists (see Friedman’s column in today’s NYT) movies, TV shows and on and on–going back a decade or more, about half those polled are with us and half against us–or in-between. But more important is realizing how critical wording is. Had the public been asked “should schools owned by private groups, religious organization or corporations be funded by public monies?” what would the polls demonstrate? Or if we added “operated for profit” somewhere in there?
I was reminded of how deceptive polls can be by looking more closely at a headline in today’s NY Times;