Common Core

Poll: More Americans Support Online Assessment Than Common Core

• By Christopher Piehler
• 10/27/14

A new poll from Lincoln Park Strategies and Social Driver has found that a large majority of Americans strongly or somewhat support “the greater use of online technology for testing students." The two leading assessment consortia, Smarter Balanced and PARCC, are proposing “computer adaptive technology,” much of which they hope to conduct online, although only 37 percent of the respondents reported knowing anything about this online testing. 

The Lincoln Park Strategies-Social Driver Poll of 1,000 Americans revealed that online student testing tied to Common Core has more support than Common Core itself. While 61 percent of respondents expressed approval of online testing, only 42 percent strongly or somewhat supported the initiative in general.

Stefan Hankin, CEO of Lincoln Park Strategies, said, “The poll results are surprising because we see a situation where people are lukewarm about Common Core, yet a clear majority are completely comfortable with using technology when asked about it in connection with Common Core. My advice to Common Core supporters is to embrace the technology aspect of this effort as a gateway to helping Americans accept other parts of the initiative.” 

Anthony Shop, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Social Driver, added, “We may disagree about the need for and design of Common Core, but we understand that filling out bubble tests isn’t getting with the future."