The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation released The State of State Standards 2006, a new report about evaluations of state academic standards.
…the average state grade is a “C-minus”–the same as six years earlier, even though most states revised their standards since 2000… Two-thirds of schoolchildren in America attend class in states with mediocre (or worse) expectations for what their students should learn.
This is the Foundation’s first comprehensive review of the quality of state academic standards since 2000, before Congress enacted No Child Left Behind (NCLB). While 37 states have updated or revised their state standards in at least one subject during that period, on the whole state standards remain mediocre.
The reviewers gave high marks to standards that are clear, rigorous, and right-headed about content.
For example, excellent English standards expect students to read and understand important literary genres, worthy science standards place the teaching of evolution at the center of biology instruction, and strong U.S. and world history standards are organized around a chronology of key events with an ample supply of fascinating and important individuals.
California, Indiana, and Massachusetts stand out with perfect scores. Common themes appear in each: If you want great standards, you can’t leave the process to committees. It takes strong visionary leadership and a willingness to fight (and win) the curricular battles. At the same time, bipartisanship is essential.
Several jurisdictions showed marked progress, especially Indiana, New York, Georgia, and New Mexico.
Others made their standards worse, including Utah, Nebraska, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin.
I listened to the public presentation of the report at the National Press Club on C-SPAN2 this morning. Great presentation and panel discussion.
Three comments stick out from all of the other cogent notes by panelists.
1. Students are the largest aggregate of untapped potential participants in setting state academic standards. This is an example of a student’s observation that might have been contributed to standard setting: a Washington, DC university student in the audience from RI said she graduated from high school thinking she learned what was appropriate about writing. She found out when she entered the university that she was unprepared in a major way.
2. Bipartisan support exists in Congress to establish national academic standards.
3. A US national academic standards test that reflects de facto as well as explicit international academic standards is technically possible. De facto standards are the ones global businesses use to employ workers. Students in the US probably would not perform well on such a national or an international academic standards test.
I think I’ll review the full report to see if they considered how mobile PCs and other advanced technologies might contribute to accelerating student learning in schools.
It looks to me that students and teachers using Tablet PCs have a potential distinct advantage over other students, because they can accelerate their own learning rates online before, during and after school.
