The MTSU Poll will present new findings this week on Tennesseans’ opinions regarding education, including Common Core, and the Department of Children’s Services.

The results will be unveiled at the outset of The Associated Press Newsmakers Session at 8 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 6, at the DoubleTree Hotel in Nashville during the annual winter convention of the Tennessee Press Association. The data was collected in late January.

This will be the first public release of these data; analyses and press releases will be available to those in attendance at Thursday’s presentation. Findings will be released to other media and the general public later in the day.

Jason Reineke, the poll’s associate director, will present findings on how Tennesseans grade the state’s schools as well as their opinions regarding the Common Core State Standards for education, school vouchers, and methods of teacher evaluation. Data describing how well Tennesseans think the Department of Children’s Services is doing in protecting children in the state’s foster care system will also be discussed.

“I think of it as a good way to frame the discussion that will take place during the rest of the session in terms of what the state’s residents know and think,” said Reineke. “Ultimately, they are the taxpayers, voters, and members of the media audience whose views matter most, and who rely on the state’s news media to keep them informed on these issues.”

The AP Newsmakers Session will also feature Department of Children’s Services Commissioner Jim Henry, and a panel discussion on “The Future of Common Core in Tennessee” featuring state Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, state Rep. Harry Brooks, R-Knoxville, and some of the state’s most prominent education leaders.

Poll data were collected Jan. 23–26, via telephone interviews of 600 Tennessee adults conducted by Issues and Answers Network Inc. using balanced, random samples of Tennessee landline and cell phones. Results have an error margin of plus-or-minus 4 percentage points at the 95 percent level of confidence. The data were weighted to match the latest available Census estimates of gender and race proportions in Tennessee.

Source: 

Jimmy Hart, MTSU News and Public Affairs