An official advisory group wants the Government to gauge the depth of opposition to some aspects of its national standards in reading, writing and maths.
The National Standards Sector Advisory Group has recommended research to assess support for the varying opinions about the standards.
Chair Gary Hawke says the research would highlight which concerns need to be addressed most urgently and which are "ones that are simply a matter of providing reassurance".
Professor Hawke estimates a third of schools want to make the standards work, another third are not enthusiastic about them, and the rest are doing the bare minimum.
Several hundred schools signalled their opposition to the standards on Friday by leaving them out of their targets for the year.
