USA Today reports that First Lady Laura Bush spoke last week in defense of 'No Child Left Behind,' the education reform legislation that has been plagued by criticism since it became law in 2002. Speaking with a group of teachers recently selected by the Department of Education to be Teaching Ambassadors, Mrs. Bush said she believes that 'No Child' will become a significant part of her husband's legacy. But the centerpiece of her argument was that annual testing, as required by the law, is an effective measure of performance and improvement and "what lets us know that we're not just shuffling kids through school, and that poor kids aren't being the ones who make it to the fifth grade and can't read, or make it to the ninth grade and drop out."

In our own research on testing and the host of issues surrounding the 'No Child' requirements, we found that , in fact, teachers on the frontlines are the most critical of the law. Seven in 10 teachers saying the law is causing problems in their district, according to our Reality Check research on standards and testing. Compare that with 22 percent of principals and 9 percent of superintendents who say meeting the law's requirements is their most pressing problem.

On the other hand, the public does favor standardized testing to measure academic performance -- as long as it's not the only benchmark. This "necessary, but not sufficient" attitude is consistent across a number of indicators among all groups surveyed by Public Agenda: parents and students, as well as teachers and administrators.

Still, it's important to point out that while most Americans have heard of 'No Child Left Behind' and majorities say it will improve education, nearly seven in 10 say they don’t know enough to form an opinion. A double-digit "don’t know" response is considered by survey researchers to be a classic warning sign that an issue may not be well understood and public attitudes may not be stable. Find out more about what to consider when you read poll results.