ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the connection between polls and educational policy. It focuses on one of the oldest poll agencies in Germany: the Allensbach Institute of Public Opinion Research, which was founded in 1947 by Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann. In Germany, school policy is the responsibility of the state governments, and the chapter presents a case study of Baden-Wurttemberg provides the opportunity to reflect on national debates over educational reforms. In the analysis of the Allensbach polls, the chapter concentrates on four aspects: first, the motivation behind the new West German government's use of polls as a new globally applied tool for surveying popular attitudes towards schools during the Cold War; second, polls' presentation of national coherence through the monitoring of popular support for educational policies; third, the legitimation of school reforms using polls; and, fourth, the role that polls played in combating the teacher shortage.
