GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

A month’s more time in the public eye has done nothing to lift Chancellor Cathie Black’s approval rating. The number of New Yorkers who approve of her work remains at 17%, according to a NY1-Marist poll released tonight.

That’s the same place last month’s Quinnipiac poll put Black and a drop from her 21% approval rating measured by Marist last February. And for context, the 17% figure is two percentage points below Governor Paterson’s approval rating at its lowest, a number Marist described as historically low.

Approval for the public school system’s performance overall is higher, but not by very much. Only 38% of respondents said they approved of the school system’s performance, and 20% rated the schools’ performance as poor.

School performance reports divided along racial lines. While 45% of white residents polled by Marist rated the schools highly, only 36% of Latino respondents and 25% of African-Americans did the same.

Approval was higher among households with children who attend public schools. A little more than half, or 53%, said they approve of the system’s performance.

The poll results come on the heels of a disastrous report for Mayor Bloomberg’s school policies. That poll, also by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, found that public approval of the mayor’s handling of the public schools has dropped more than 20 percentage points since 2009.

Today’s poll supported last week’s report on public opinion of the city teachers union.

The poll released last week reported that 56% of respondents believed that the union’s fight to save “last in, first out” was intended merely to protect institutional seniority. Only 35% thought that the union wanted to retain experienced teachers.

Today’s poll reports that 55% or residents believe that the union “does more good than harm,” while only 35% think the opposite. Opinion on the union divided along age lines, with younger respondents showing more support: 67% of people between 18 and 30 said the union does more good than harm, compared to 43% of those over 65.

The poll also asked an unusual question: Which union is stronger — the city teachers union or the NFL Players Association? A decisive 50% of residents believe that the football league has the stronger union, while 38% responded that the UFT has got the goods.

Read the full results:
April 4th, 2011 NYC Poll Release and Tables