Ed Next readers picked Common Core academic standards, teachers unions, charter schools, and online and digital learning as the top education issues of 2012 in our end-of-year readers’ poll.

Our poll was inspired by an analysis of education coverage in the news media that was conducted by the Koret Task Force. Their analysis found that the topics most often covered by the general news media in 2012 were charter schools, teachers unions, special education, pre-Kindergarten education, and No Child Left Behind. The Koret Task force identified five other issues that they thought deserved more coverage: the cost of teacher pensions, Common Core academic standards, international comparisons of student achievement, online or digital learning, and Louisiana’s education reforms.

Stay tuned for our next poll, which will ask readers to identify the top education books of 2012.

-Education Next