Standards and Assessments

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Discussion

When the Commission began its work in 2007, the prospect of establishing core academic standards for the nation’s school systems seemed like a distant prospect. The picture has changed dramatically over the past year, largely through the leadership of a few key organizations. In July 2008, Achieve, Inc., issued Out of Many, One: Toward Rigorous Common Core Standards from the Ground Up, which identified a “common core” of English and mathematics standards that 16 states had already adopted voluntarily as college- and career-ready expectations for their high school graduates.³⁷. All 16 states, scattered across the country, are members of Achieve’s American Diploma Project. This demonstration of a good level of agreement on key learning objectives among a diverse group of states suggests that finding common ground among most if not all states may well be achievable.

In September 2008, Achieve and two other groups—the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)—joined forces to establish the International Benchmarking Advisory Group, an effort with the announced goal of ensuring that “American students in every state are receiving a world-class education.” The advisory group issued a report, Benchmarking for Success: Ensuring U.S. Students Receive a World-Class Education, in December 2008, which “provides states a roadmap for benchmarking their K-12 education systems against those of top-performing nations³⁸. Like Out of Many, One, the international benchmarking group report confined its recommendations to language arts and mathematics, but its call for higher expectations for all American students has clear implications for science.

Developed collaboratively by states for the nation but not federally promulgated or required, common standards would be national in scope and would provide a common frame of reference.

Most recently, the NGA Center for Best Practices and CCSSO, in partnership with Achieve and other groups, have moved the country a major step closer to common standards with its Common Core Standards Initiative³⁹. The development process has not yet been fully elaborated, but states have been offered a memorandum of understanding that spells out the principles of the work and guidelines for engagement. The goal is to release core high school standards in English-language arts and mathematics in late summer 2009 and develop grade-by-grade standards in those areas during the fall. Gene Wilhoit, a member of the Commission and executive director of CCSSO, signaled the group’s intention to ensure the high quality of the work by assuring prospective state participants that “no state will see a decrease in the level of student expectations that exist in their current state standards.”

Meanwhile, in both the mathematics and science education communities, there has been forward movement to find common ground and address the shortcomings of earlier efforts to create national standards.

Mathematics education has long been divided by contentious debates about curriculum and instruction. A breakthrough occurred with the 2005 Common Ground project, sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America, which brought together scholars and educators representing different orientations. They produced a set of understandings that all could agree to, demonstrating that there was less division than had previously been assumed⁴⁰. The following year, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) issued the Focal Points report, which spelled out a set of core ideas for mathematics in grades K-8. Prior NCTM standards had been criticized for not offering grade-by-grade guidance to teachers, a failing that allowed students to be taught the same subjects year after year. Focal Points provided that guidance and was well received by a wide range of mathematicians and mathematics educators. In 2008, the National Mathematics Advisory Panel, appointed by President Bush, embraced and embellished the central themes of the Focal Points work in its Foundations for Success report⁴¹, thus creating a foundation on which a full set of standards for grades K-12 might be constructed.

Developed collaboratively by states for the nation but not federally promulgated or required, common standards would be national in scope and would provide a common frame of reference.

In science education, progress has been similar, although debates about curriculum and instruction have been less contentious—save for the special case of evolution. In 2007, the National Research Council issued Taking Science to School, which decried the “mile wide/inch deep” dilemma that plagues most states’ science standards and curriculum. The report also acknowledged that the Academies had themselves contributed to the problem through their 1996 National Science Education Standards. The new study, looking exclusively at K-8 education, called for the development of new standards to focus instruction on core foundational ideas of science that all students need to learn. It also offered a new definition of science education that places greater emphasis on the practice of science and the importance of inquiry, not just memorization of key facts.

The Commission is heartened by these forward steps and urges widespread participation by states, educators, and the mathematics and science communities. The Obama administration has shown particular interest in promoting fewer, clearer, and higher standards for all students. As President Obama has asserted, “the solution to low test scores is not lowering standards—it’s tougher, clearer standards⁴².”If successful, the effort to establish common standards will provide an unprecedented basis for creating aligned systems of high-quality assessment that would guide effective instruction and strengthen the nation’s ability to improve its schools.

1. On establishing common math and science standards that are fewer, clearer, and higher

Common standards would enable states, and the country as a whole, to prioritize math and science learning and incorporate math- and science-related content, concepts, and processes into learning expectations for all grades and in all areas of the curriculum. Our lack of common standards and expectations makes it difficult to focus teacher education around essential knowledge and ideas that every student ought to gain command of and every teacher needs to know inside and out. It compromises the quality of textbooks and other resources by forcing publishers to aim for materials that cover too much at too superficial a level. But the ill-effects of a plethora of learning objectives cascade on, compromising teacher practice and state assessments as the push to cover required content makes it impossible for teachers to delve deeply into the most important content. The end result is American students deprived of the chance to develop scientific and quantitative reasoning skills, understand core concepts, see the relevance of math and science learning, or experience its excitement.

Common standards, such as those being developed by the Common Core Standards Initiative, would address these shortcomings and enable educators and the educational system—nationally and in states and districts—to concentrate their efforts on creating and testing curricular materials, instructional strategies, and other resources that would serve the learning needs of the wide diversity of American students, from struggling to advanced learners, and enable deep learning. When complete, the standards will be available to all states on a voluntary basis.