The public opinion research group Public Agenda recently released a survey called Where We Are Now: 12 Things You Need to Know about Public Opinion and Public Schools. The results are well worth a read. Although the survey also analyzes the opinions of parents, students, administrators, college professors and employers, it is the teachers responses that give us the best perspective on the state of the modern classroom.

One of the biggest findings of the survey was that the new focus on testing provided by NCLB is not the single, all-encompassing fear that some have made it to be. Indeed, three quarters of teachers (as well as similar numbers of parents, professors, and employers) say that students work harder when they know that they will be tested. Nevertheless, teachers are uncomfortable with the idea that they will be evaluated (especially by parents; see above), with 76% of teachers opposed to tying teachers salaries to students scores. Although a large majority of teachers say that standardized tests take up too much of their time, they also find that these tests are useful.

Teachers estimations of student achievement were also troubling, with 48% saying that students in their schools got diplomas despite lacking required skills, while 4 in 10 teachers copped to having given a social promotion themselves.