Teachers, parents and public school advocates way want to play the YouTube video of Bobby McFerrin – Don’t Worry Be Happy song while reading this blog post.
The USA Today headline reads, “Survey: Common Core standards working well.”
In other words, the USA Today and other “main stream media outlets” are telling the Common Core naysayers to sit down and shut up with all this anti-common core mush.
How do we know the Common Core standards are working well?
Because the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the driving force behind the Common Core and its unfair, inappropriate and expensive Common Core Testing Scheme, along with one of the companies that will profit most from the implementation of the Common Core, have a new public opinion survey showing that public school teachers love the Common Core.
The highlights of the Gates Foundation/Scholastic Corporation survey show the following…
As of July 2014, nearly two-thirds of public school teachers report that the implementation of the Common Core is “mostly or fully complete” (65%, up 19 points from 2013), and teachers increasingly agree that the implementation of the Common Core is “going well in their schools” (68%, up six points from 2013).
In addition, more public school teachers report feeling prepared to teach to the Common Core, with 79 percent of teachers saying they are “very” or “somewhat” prepared (up eight points from 2013), even as more agree that implementation is challenging (81%, up eight points from 2013).
According to the survey, among the challenges that teachers continue to face is “critical resources they need to ensure successful implementation,” with more than eight in ten teachers citing Common Core–aligned instructional materials (86%) and quality professional development (84%), and many teachers wanting additional planning time (78%) as well as opportunities to collaborate with other teachers (78%). In other words, school districts need to invest in more computers, more common core software and more common core-aligned instructional materials.
Finally, an incredible seven in ten (68%) public school teachers report that they are “enthusiastic about Common Core implementation in their classrooms,” although slightly fewer agree this year over last (down five points from 2013).
So where did this wonderful, albeit unbelievable, survey come from?
According to the press release issued by the Scholastic Corporation,
NEW YORK, NY – October 3, 2014 – Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today released results from a survey of more than 1,600 of America’s pre-K–12 public school teachers who are in the more than 40 states where the Common Core State Standards are being implemented. Focused on how the new standards are affecting teachers’ students and classrooms, the survey found that over the past year the majority of teachers have remained optimistic that the Common Core will lead to greater levels of student achievement and that many are observing positive changes in their classrooms despite some challenges in implementation. This survey, which was conducted in July 2014, is a follow-up with the teachers who responded in July 2013 to the comprehensive survey that comprised Primary Sources: America’s Teachers on Teaching in an Era of Change
The actual internet survey being reported about today was conducted by YouGov, an on-line multi-national polling company that is headquartered in England and run by a group of businessmen that are primarily associated with Britain’s Conservative Party.
YouGov’s former Chief Executive Office won a seat in Parliament as a Conservative member in 2010 and the company’s current CEO ran as a Conservative Party candidate for Parliament in 1997. The company’s chairman is a successful media entrepreneur, while YouGov’s president is a well know political commentator in England.
This year’s Gates Foundation/Scholastic Corporation Survey was another in a series of opinion research projects aimed to building government, business and public support for the Common Core and its related standardized testing program.
According to the Scholastic Corporation, “The first edition, which was fielded in 2009 and surveyed more than 40,000 teachers, is widely considered the largest-ever survey of America’s teachers. The following second and third editions were fielded in 2011 and 2013, respectively. The third survey asked 20,000 teachers their views on the many changes occurring in America’s classroom. Acknowledging the fast pace of these changes, the 2014 Update shows the impact of one year on teachers’ views on the Common Core State Standards.”
It is unclear how the 40,000 or 20,000 teachers were selected to participate in the various on-line studies, although see below for how YouGov generally recruits participants. You can find the report on the 2013 Gates Foundation/Scholastic Corporation survey at: http://www.scholastic.com/... and the most 2014 press release on the new study at: http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/...
This year’s survey apparently used a similar on-line questionnaire, this time polling 1,676 pre-K–12 full-time public school classroom teachers.
According to the report released with the survey, “All Common Core State Standards implementation states, plus the District of Columbia, are included in this research with the exception of Delaware. The states not included are Alaska, Nebraska, Virginia, Texas, South Carolina and Indiana. The sample is balanced on population characteristics including grade(s) taught, years of teaching experience, gender and urbanity, as was the case in each edition of Primary Sources.”
Putting aside the broader questions about the selection of participants, the methodology, including the impact of internet based self-selection and the impact that weighting can have on the results, it is important to note that the “2014 Common Core Update…fielded online by YouGov, includes teachers who participate in Primary Sources, Third Edition: America’s Teachers on Teaching in an Era of Change, which was fielded in July 2013.”
This means that the survey was simply a sub-set of teachers who had already shown their support for the Common Core in the 2013 survey.
Some readers may recognize the YouGov name. The company generally recruits people,
“who like to express and share their opinions, and earn points along the way…As a panel member you will receive regular email invitations for new surveys. Every survey you complete earns points that when accumulated can be redeemed for rewards such as movie tickets, gift cards, and other prizes. You will also receive surveys that don’t have points but enter you in a monthly prize draw…All YouGov surveys are completed online and filled out at a time that is convenient for you. Redeem Points for Rewards… Join Today and Receive Our 2000 Points Welcome Bonus.
So there you have it.
Thanks to the Gates Foundation and the Scholastic Corporation we now know that the implementation of the Common Core standards are going great and that an incredible seven in ten public school teachers report that they are “enthusiastic about Common Core implementation in their classrooms.”
Don’t worry, be happy!
Corporate America has everything under control.