Peterson, Howell and West: Teachers Unions Have a Popularity Problem

Paul Peterson, William Howell & Martin West:

However Wisconsin's recall election turns out on Tuesday, teachers unions already appear to be losing a larger political fight--in public opinion. In our latest annual national survey, we found that the share of the public with a positive view of union impact on local schools has dropped by seven percentage points in the past year. Among teachers, the decline was an even more remarkable 16 points.

On behalf of Harvard's Program on Education Policy and Governance and the journal Education Next, we have asked the following question since 2009: "Some people say that teacher unions are a stumbling block to school reform. Others say that unions fight for better schools and better teachers. What do you think? Do you think teacher unions have a generally positive effect on schools, or do you think they have a generally negative effect?"

Respondents can choose among five options: very positive, somewhat positive, neither positive nor negative, somewhat negative, and very negative.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at June 5, 2012 1:31 AM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas