Debating the Future of American Education

Do We Meet National Standards and Assessments?

Diane Ravitch

• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Year: 2010
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780815713456
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Educational Policy

What is the outlook for educational reform in the United States? One of the most striking proposals has been to establish a system of national standards, which has raised many complex questions: Is it possible for the United States, with its history of extreme decentralization, to establish and enforce national standards for what students should know? Who will create these standards? What would be the role of the federal, state, and local governments?
While the idea of national standards has been widely supported, many respected educators doubt their value from fear that such standards will institutionalize the lowest common denominator. Others cite the poor performance of U.S. students on international tests and insist that the U.S. will suffer because of this poor performance. The debate becomes even more intense when the question of assessment is posed. Is it possible to develop a national examination system tied to new standards? Should such tests be used to influence entry to colleges and jobs? Would the motivation of students to learn be increased if they knew that their performance would be reviewed by colleges and employers? Is it fair to set standards for students without setting standards for schools?
To address these and other questions, this book, the result of a Brookings conference, brings together representatives of various viewpoints on the utility and equity of increasing the use of tests for students, teachers, and schools.
The contributors are Chester Finn, Jr., the Edison Project; Daniel Koretz, RAND; Andrew Porter, Wisconsin Center for Education Research; Lauren Resnick, University of Pittsburgh; Roy Romer, Governor of Colorado; Albert Shanker, American Federation of Teachers; Theodore R. Sizer, Brown University; Marshall C. Smith, U.S. Department of Education; and Donald M. Stewart, The College Board.
Brookings Dialogues on Public Policy

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Education Reform in America’s Public Schools: The Clinton Agenda
• Will National Standards and Assessments Make a Difference?
• The Uses and Misuses of Opportunity-to-Learn Standards
• Explaining Standards to the Public
• General Discussion
• Holding onto Norms in a Sea of Criteria
• Standards for Education
• Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Test?
• The Case for High Stakes and Real Consequences
• Sometimes a Cigar Is Only a Cigar, and Often a Test Is Only a Test
• General Discussion
• Conference Participants