Amid national debates about what schools are teaching, Pew Research Center conducted this study to better understand how public K-12 teachers, teens and the American public see topics related to race, sexual orientation and gender identity playing out in the classroom. The bulk of the analysis in this report is based on an online survey of 2,531 U.S. public K-12 teachers conducted from October 17 to November 14, 2023. For the questions for the general public, 5,029 U.S. adults were surveyed, and for questions for teens, an online survey of 1,453 U.S. teens was conducted from September 26 to October 23, 2023, through Ipsos. Key findings include: (1) A sizeable share of teachers (41%) say the national debates have had a negative impact on their ability to do their job; (2) 71% of teachers say teachers themselves do not have enough influence over what is taught in public schools in their area while 58% say their state government has too much influence over this; (3) 38% of teens say they feel comfortable when topics related to racism or racial inequality come up in class (among those who say these topics have come up) while a smaller share (29%) say they feel comfortable when topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity come up; and (4) Among the American public, more say parents should be able to opt their children out of learning about LGBTQ issues than say the same about topics related to race (54% vs. 34%).