Poll: ‘Jury’s out’ on Core plan
From This Mornings Poughkeepsie Journal
By Joseph Spector

Albany bureau

ALBANY — A majority of New Yorkers believe there is too much testing in schools, but voters were closely divided on the new controversial Common Core curricu­lum, a poll Monday found.

Fifty-two percent of voters said there is too much testing in schools, while 12 percent said there is not enough and 28 percent said it’s the right amount, the Siena College poll found. Parents and teachers have expressed displea­sure with the Common Core curriculum, which has mandated new, tough­er tests for students in third through eighth grades. Teachers are also facing new evaluations, based in part on how stu­dents perform on testing.

Voters were divided on whether Common Core standards will make stu­dents more college or ca­reer ready, with 45 per­cent confident that it would and 49 saying it would not. “The jury’s out on Common Core but if stan­dardized student tests were reduced, most New Yorkers would not ob­ject,” said Steven Greenberg, a Siena Col­lege pollster.

Thirty-four percent said Common Core is too demanding, and 27 per­cent said it was not de­manding enough.

Some parents planned to keep their children home from school Monday in a na­tional protest of Com­mon Core, called “Don’t Send Your Child To School Day.” Joseph Spector: jspec­tor@gannett.com; Twit­ter: @gannettalbany