This report is the twenty-fifth in a series of surveys sponsored annually by MetLife since 1984 as a public service. This 25th anniversary edition includes the views of teachers, principals and students and looks back to the earliest MetLife Surveys to examine how perspectives on teachers, teaching and public education have changed. It documents current attitudes, examines trends and considers future implications, addressing teacher satisfaction with careers; academic standards and curriculum; student success; professional relationships and communication; school conditions; parent and community relations; and challenges beyond the classroom. This research combined both quantitative and qualitative methods, and an online strategy session with public school principals and teacher leaders. Many of the findings are substantially more positive than they have been in the past, including improvement in teacher assessment of the state of the profession, and trends in student achievement. However, educators in urban schools were found to be significantly less positive than colleagues in suburban and rural schools. The following are appended: (1) Methodology; and (2) Questionnaires. (Contains 8 footnotes and 132 figures.) [For the 2007 (twenty-fourth) edition of this survey, see ED500012.]