Teachers weigh in on tenure, evaluations

About 1,000 teachers nationwide responded to the survey conducted by mail late last year for the Education Sector by the Farkas Duffett Research Group, a nonpartisan public opinion research company. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The survey, which follows one conducted in 2003, also showed union support among new teachers has grown.

A little more than half of teachers surveyed this time said unions were "absolutely essential" compared with about one-third last time.

Andrew Rotherham, co-director of Education Sector, said teachers are under increased pressure to boost kids' test scores because of the federal No Child Left Behind law. It mandates that schools meet testing benchmarks or face consequences such as having to offer tutoring or replace staff.

Rotherham said the teachers unions have capitalized on educators' concerns about the law and rallied against it. "They're benefiting from the fact that there is a fair amount of uncertainty out there," he said.