Positive teacher news . . .

The annual PDK/Gallup poll on education has been released. They have conducted the same poll since 1969. As one might guess, some of the data is similar to the past such as the percentage of respondents giving their local schools an A or B is fifty-one percent, but only seventeen percent would give public schools across the nation an A or B. This is the our local schools are great, but America’s schools are poor phenomena. This may be influenced by the answer to the question about whether the respondents hear more good stories or bad stories about teachers in the news. Sixty-eight percent responded bad news and twenty-nine percent good news. This would certainly align with my thinking and since most of the stories come from other systems they must not be as good as mine.


The data on teachers is positive with seventy-one percent having trust and confidence in those teaching children in the public schools. It is mixed for teacher unions with forty-seven percent saying that teacher unions have hurt the quality of education in the United States. When respondents, however, are asked who they agree with in states where teacher unions are fighting with governors over bargaining rights and budgets, fifty-two percent side with teachers and forty-four percent with governors.

There are many more questions on a range of topics that you might find interesting. The results can be found in table form here. One question that I found interesting is the one below.

TABLE 4. In your opinion, is the ability to teach or instruct students more the result of natural talent or more the result of college training about how to
teach?

Natural talent 70%
College training 28%
Don’t know/refused 3%

How would you have answered this question?