When it comes to setting educational standards, only 36 percent of the general public think the federal government—as opposed to state or local governments—should play the largest role in these decisions. When we asked this question in our 2015 EdNext poll, 41 percent of the public thought the federal government should play the largest role in setting standards—which means we saw a 5 percentage-point drop from 2015 to 2017. Only 13 percent of the public now think the federal government should identify failing schools, also down 5 percentage points from 2015, and only 16 percent now think the federal government should be responsible for fixing schools, down 4 percentage points. Changes were similar among Republicans and Democrats alike. In short, opinion has shifted modestly away from federal control toward local control over the past two years. View our 2017 interactive to learn more, or take a look at our eleven-year poll trends.

—Education Next