PACE/USC Rossier Poll also shows voters have soured on Common Core despite increased awareness
**EMBARGOED UNTIL 10 a.m. PT on Thursday, June 26**
Contact: Merrill Balassone at (213) 509-7805 or balasson@usc.edu
LOS ANGELES – June 26, 2014 – A strong majority of California voters oppose the state’s tenure and layoff policies for public school teachers, according to a new poll released just days after the landmark Vergara court case invalidated both statutes as unconstitutional.
The PACE/USC Rossier School of Education Poll shows two-thirds of voters (68%) agree that the state should do away with “Last in, First Out,” a policy that requires the newest K-12 teachers be laid off first, regardless of merit. Just 17 percent said California should continue to conduct teacher layoffs in order of seniority, according to the poll.
California voters also largely opposed the state’s tenure laws for public school teachers, according to the poll. Six in 10 California voters said teachers should not continue to receive tenure, as it makes firing bad teachers difficult. Twenty-five percent of voters said the state should keep tenure for public school teachers to provide them job protections and the freedom to teach potentially controversial topics without fear of reprisals.
When asked specifically about the timeline to tenure – which can be awarded after as little as 18 months in the classroom – 38 percent said two years is too soon to award tenure, and 35 percent said public school teachers shouldn’t receive tenure at all, the poll showed. Seventeen percent of voters said two years was the “right amount of time” to earn tenure, and 4 percent said two years was too long, according to the poll.
“The majority of California voters polled have expressed views that are consistent with Judge Treu’s recent decision in Vergara,” said Julie Marsh, associate professor at the USC Rossier School. “These views may give pause to those appealing the decision.”
On June 10, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu presiding over Vergara v. California struck down both teacher tenure and “Last in, First Out” laws, among others, on the grounds they deprive students of their right to an adequate education.
The PACE/USC Rossier Poll showed that 42 percent of voters had heard or read about the Vergaradecision, with 58 percent saying they had not heard or read much or any at all about the decision.
Among those with knowledge of the Vergara decision, 62 percent said they agreed with the judge that teacher tenure rules violate the state constitution. Twenty-three percent disagreed and 15 percent said they didn’t know.
When asked about California’s teachers unions, 49 percent of voters said they have a “somewhat or very negative” impact on the quality of K-12 education, with 31 percent saying unions have a “somewhat or very positive” impact.
Voters more familiar with Common Core, but they don’t like it
Nearly half of voters – 47 percent – say they are familiar with Common Core State Standards. That’s up from 2013 when the PACE/USC Rossier Poll showed just 29 percent of voters knew anything about Common Core.
But the most recent results of the PACE/USC Rossier Poll show that 44 percent of voters have a negative impression of the new standards, as compared to 38 percent who say they hold a positive impression.
When asked to choose between two statements, 41 percent of voters said California should not implement the Common Core State Standards because they represent a “Washington D.C.-based, one-size-fits-all approach” to education. Thirty-two percent of voters said California is right to implement the standards because they provide a “clear, consistent understanding of what students are expected to learn.”
In the 2013 PACE/USC Rossier Poll, 36 percent of voters said California should implement the Common Core, with 25 percent opposed to its “one-size-fits-all approach.”
The most recent poll showed support for Common Core also varied widely by age and along party lines. Among Democrats, 46 percent had a positive impression of Common Core, as compared to 34 percent who had a negative impression. Among Republicans, 56 percent of voters had a negative impression and 30 percent had a positive impression.
Those aged 65 and older felt most negatively about the Common Core, with 51 percent having a negative impression of Common Core and 36 percent saying they have a positive impression.
“In a strongly Democratic state that has seen relatively few implementation issues, this points to a real messaging problem for advocates of the Common Core,” said Morgan Polikoff, assistant professor of education at the USC Rossier School and an expert on Common Core curriculum.
State’s public schools earn middling grades, but there are bright spots
The PACE/USC Rossier Poll also showed Californians continue to rate the state’s education system as being in poor shape.
The largest percentage of Californians (38%) gave their state’s schools a grade of “C,” and 43 percent of voters graded them a “D” or “F.” Twenty-six percent of voters gave their local public schools a “D” or “F” rating.
Nearly half of voters (48%) said the state’s schools have gotten worse in recent years, while 33 percent said they stayed the same and 11 percent said they’ve gotten better. Asked about their local schools, however, 35 percent said they’d stayed the same, 34 percent said they’d gotten worse and 21 percent said they’d gotten better.
But Californians were more optimistic when asked to rank the state’s public schools on specific measures of performance, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 10 (best).
Respondents gave the best mean score – a 6.2 – to the question of how the state’s schools teach students the basics: reading, writing and math, up from a rating of 5.1 when the question was asked in 2013.
The next highest marks came for offering career-technical education as an alternative to four-year university (5.9); preparing students for a four-year university (5.9); and providing parents with a choice of public schools (5.8). Rankings jumped in all categories over the 2013 results from the PACE/USC Rossier Poll.
“There is considerable evidence that public dispositions are more favorable toward public schools than they have been in the last couple of years,” said David N. Plank, executive director of PACE. “The share of voters who say their local schools have gotten better has increased significantly, and their assessment of the schools’ performance in specific areas has improved across the board.”
When asked about the November election for state superintendent of public instruction, 27 percent said they would vote for incumbent Tom Torlakson, 16 percent chose charter school executive Marshall Tuck, and 57 percent said they couldn’t say.
After watching campaign ads for both candidates, however, 38 percent said they would vote for Torlakson and 36 percent would vote for Tuck.
“Right now, voters don’t have much familiarity with either candidate, and the commercials shown in this poll go a long way in giving voters a look at who those guys are and what they are about,” said Jeff Harrelson, a partner with Republican polling firm MFour Mobile Research, who conducted this poll with Democratic polling firm Tulchin Research. “This tells us that if both candidates are equally adept at getting their message to voters, this could be a very close race.”
The PACE/USC Rossier School of Education Poll was conducted June 19-22, 2014 by polling firms MFour Mobile Research and Tulchin Research and surveyed 1,005 registered California voters. The poll was conducted online and allowed respondents to complete the survey on a desktop or laptop computer, tablet or smartphone. The poll was conducted in English and Spanish. The margin of error for the overall sample was +/- 3.5 percentage points.
The poll is the fourth in a series from Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) and the USC Rossier School of Education.
View the results of the PACE/USC Rossier Poll: Crosstabs Topline
About the USC Rossier School of Education
The mission of the USC Rossier School of Education (ross-EAR) is to improve learning in urban education locally, nationally and globally. USC Rossier leads the way in innovative, collaborative solutions to improve education outcomes. Their work is field-based, in the classroom, and online, and reflects a diversity of perspectives and experiences. USC Rossier prides itself on innovation in all its programs, preparing teachers, administrators, and educational leaders who are change agents. The school supports the most forward-thinking scholars and researchers, whose work is having direct impact on student success in K-12 schools and higher education. USC Rossier is a leader in using cutting-edge technology to scale up its quality programs for maximum impact.
About Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE)
Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) is an independent, non-partisan research center based at Stanford University, the University of California – Berkeley and the University of Southern California. PACE seeks to define and sustain a long-term strategy for comprehensive policy reform and continuous improvement in performance at all levels of California’s education system, from early childhood to post-secondary education and training. PACE bridges the gap between research and policy, working with scholars from California’s leading universities and with state and local policymakers to increase the impact of academic research on educational policy in California.
