Standardized Tests Backed by Most Parents, Survey Finds

Most parents of school-age children support higher academic standards and the use of standardized tests, according to a survey released last week.

“Based on this research--and surveys by other organizations--reports of the death of the standards movement have been wildly exaggerated,” said Deborah Wadsworth, president of the nonprofit Public Agenda.

The group’s survey found that only 2% of those parents who know that their school districts are implementing higher standards want to go back to the way things were. Fifty-three percent want to continue with the effort as planned, and 34% want to continue, but with some adjustments.

In the last year and a half, parents have mobilized in at least 36 states to oppose the way standardized tests and higher academic standards are used. Many argue that the exams place too much stress on children, miscalculate their abilities, limit what they are taught and are given too much weight in determining whether they are held back.

But the Public Agenda survey found that only 11% of parents felt that their children’s schools were requiring too many standardized tests.

The report is based on a random-sample telephone survey of 803 parents of public school students. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Public Agenda is a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank founded in 1975 by former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and pollster Daniel Yankelovich.