The poll also shows that among those Americans who are familiar with the No Child Left Behind Act—and four years after it became law, less than half say they know a great deal or a fair amount about NCLB—almost 60 percent believe the law has either harmed schools or made no difference. The breakdowns on NCLB: 37 percent of respondents say the law has made no difference in the performance of schools in their community and 21 percent say it has hurt schools, while 26 percent say it has helped.

The survey “sends a direct message to members of Congress as they begin to draft the next version of the No Child Left Behind Act,” says AFT president Edward J. McElroy. “After four years, this law is not making the grade.”

Almost four out of five respondents say they are concerned that the law’s focus on English/language arts and math will mean less emphasis on other subjects. Almost 70 percent say NCLB’s use of a single state test cannot provide a fair picture of whether schools need improvement.

Despite these concerns and more specific complaints about testing (more on this shortly), the poll shows widespread support for NCLB’s goal of closing the achievement gap between different groups of students and improving the overall performance of all students. Some of the concern about NCLB echoes the comments from AFT members about some of the negative effects related to the increased testing the law has mandated. For example, 81 percent of the poll respondents don’t believe that testing in only English and math can give a fair picture of a school.

The poll also reveals widespread support for many recommendations the AFT is taking to Congress to help public schools work even better. Four out of five respondents believe that schools should be given credit for the progress their students make.

Over the years, the poll has consistently shown little support for vouchers that use public money to send students to private schools. The number opposing vouchers this year is 60 percent, up 3 percent since last year. Other alternatives included in NCLB also receive little public support. Eighty percent of those polled prefer that students who attend schools that fail to meet the standards related to NCLB receive help in their own schools rather than transfer to other schools. More than two-thirds also oppose contracting out public school system operations to private companies.

Overall, the public strongly supports its local public schools, a finding that “should send a clear message to those interested in improving our schools that change proposals should be built on the assumption that the people like the schools they have,” says Lowell Rose, one of the study’s co-authors.

One change—and something that the AFT has been championing for many years—that attracted strong support is expanded preschool programs for at-risk children. More than 80 percent of those polled believe such programs would improve long-term school performance. And 66 percent say they would be willing to pay higher taxes to fund these programs.

With No Child Left Behind scheduled to be reauthorized in 2007, this year’s survey should serve as a “wake-up call to our nation’s policymakers,” says William Bushaw, the executive director of Phi Delta Kappa International, in summing up the findings. “The public rejects the punitive approach in NCLB, favors a broad curriculum, prefers more appropriate measures of school performance than a single high-stakes test and supports efforts targeted at helping our most vulnerable students.”

More information and complete poll results are available at www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k0609pol.htm.