Statement by Sandra Feldman President, American Federation of Teachers on Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll on the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools

Washington, D.C.-- This is the latest in a string of public opinion polls to find overwhelming support for the public schools and for providing assistance to children in low-performing schools as opposed to simply transferring them to other schools. The AFT wants what the public wants -- good public schools with high-quality teachers and a well-rounded curriculum.

Like AFT, the public supports the objectives of the No Child Left Behind law but not all of its strategies, such as judging a school’s performance by an arbitrarily fixed percentage of students who pass a standardized test as opposed to giving a school credit for improvements.

The poll found the public is very concerned about the achievement gap between white and minority students and would like to see more parental involvement. And once again, the public rejects vouchers that siphon public dollars from public schools.

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The AFT represents more than 1.3 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers, paraprofessionals and other school support employees, higher education faculty, nurses and other healthcare workers, and state and local government employees.