---

News Release

Last modified: Thursday, December 28, 2006

Media Advisory: K-12 public opinion survey results to be presented Jan 3

EDITORS AND REPORTERS: Jonathan Plucker, director of the Center for Evaluation & Education Policy (CEEP) at Indiana University Bloomington, and Terry Spradlin, CEEP's associate director for education policy, will present findings from the 2006 Public Opinion Survey on Education in Indiana to the State Board of Education. Plucker and Spradlin will be available to speak with reporters after the presentation.

What: The 2006 Public Opinion Survey on Education in Indiana

Who: Survey co-authors Jonathan Plucker and Terry Spradlin, Center for Evaluation & Education Policy

Date: Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2007

Time: 11:30 a.m. EST

Location: The Department of Education's James Whitcomb Riley Conference Room, 151 W. Ohio St., Indianapolis.

The 2006 Public Opinion Survey on Education in Indiana gauged the attitudes and perceptions of a representative sample of Hoosiers on such key educational issues as kindergarten and pre-kindergarten programs, No Child Left Behind and P.L. 221, school funding and taxes, teacher quality, school choice and charter schools, and the achievement gap in the state. The survey found, for example, that the great majority of residents support state-funded full-day kindergarten programs, as well as state-sponsored pre-school for at-risk children. Attitudes toward standardized testing varied, with a majority of residents viewing ISTEP as beneficial, but fewer than 50 percent identifying benefits from No Child Left Behind or P.L. 221. As a whole, Hoosiers continue to hold positive attitudes about public K-12 schools, but non-whites were more likely than whites to give unfavorable ratings.

This is the fourth consecutive year that CEEP has conducted the Public Opinion Survey on Education in Indiana.

For more information, contact Terry Spradlin at 317-750-2056 or tspradli@indiana.edu.

---

---