Standards and Assessments

Recommended actions

The Commission recommends actions in two areas toward focusing on essential mathematics and science knowledge and skills:

1. Establish common math and science standards that are fewer, clearer, and higher and that stimulate and guide instructional improvement and galvanize the nation to pursue meaningful math and science learning for all Americans

By the federal government

• Endorse the National Governors Association and CCSSO Common Core Standards Initiative process and the creation of common, national standards that are fewer, clearer, and higher in mathematics and English language arts; urge the Common Core states to tackle science standards in the next round of development

• Support research and development activities that strengthen our collective understanding of what all students need to know and be able to do in order to succeed in college, thrive in the workforce, and participate in civic life

• Take steps to increase public understanding of the connection between better standards and better math and science education for all students

By governors and states

• Participate in the Common Core Standards Initiative to develop fewer, clearer, and higher common standards in mathematics and English language arts

• Within the Common Core Standards Initiative, encourage the development of science standards in the next round of development, utilizing the four strands of scientific proficiency and demonstrated capacities in the work of science identified in the report of the National Research Council, Taking Science to School (2007)

• Work with other states and with K-12 and higher education system leaders to explore the feasibility of offering a mathematics pathway to college for secondary students that is equally rigorous to the calculus pathway and that features deeper study of statistics, data analysis, and related discrete mathematics applications, beginning with a redesigned Algebra II course; write standards to enable that pathway and ensure rigorous learning

• Make a public commitment to mathematics and science standards that are fewer, clearer, and higher—and based on the best existing evidence about the developmental trajectory of how students learn and the skills and knowledge they need for further education, work, and citizenship

• Learn more about the standards development efforts of states that have made recent progress, such as Indiana, Minnesota, and Massachusetts, and apply lessons from that work to improve practice and build greater consensus

• Join with other states in a continuous process of improving mathematics and science standards, based on a growing evidence base about student learning, needed skills and knowledge, and the efficacy of existing standards

• Take steps to increase public understanding of the connection between better standards and better math and science curriculum and instruction for all students

• In science, become familiar with the work beginning at the National Research Council in July 2009 to develop a process for identifying core disciplinary ideas in science and transfer lessons learned from this process to the development of a Common Core in science

• Support efforts toward developing standards that encourage greater integration of literacy development within mathematics and science and a stronger emphasis on the cognitive and developmental research that can inform math and science learning across the curriculum in both K-12 and higher education

Sophisticated, multilayered, and rigorous assessments are the essential counterpart to fewer, clearer, higher common standards.

By colleges and universities

• Work with K-12 systems to redefine rigorous mathematics pathways that include data analysis and statistics and lead to admission to four-year colleges

• Redesign introductory and required courses in mathematics and science to connect more seamlessly with new secondary standards by providing rigorous development of quantitative and scientific literacy skills needed by all students for further education, work, and citizenship

• Assess the quality and levels of learning in mathematics and science by undergraduate students, especially during the first two years of college

• Review science and math curriculum with an eye toward increasing undergraduate competence in using and interpreting scientific evidence and participating in scientific practices and discourse By businesses, unions, nonprofit organizations, and other partners

• Support state involvement in Common Core Standards Initiative and promote the development of high-quality standards in mathematics and science

• Engage teachers and school leaders in promoting fewer, clearer, and higher standards in math and science in their states as essential to their ability to strengthen instructional practice

By philanthropy

• Support state efforts to participate in the Common Core Standards Initiative and other efforts to develop fewer, clearer, and higher standards

• Fund research that strengthens the evidence base regarding what students need to know for further education, work, and citizenship and how teachers and schools can best support student learning

• Support research and the development of new practices in mathematics and science learning that would inform standards that are fewer, clearer, and higher and support the infusion of math and science learning across the curriculum

2. Develop sophisticated assessments and accountability mechanisms that, along with common standards, stimulate and guide instructional improvement and innovation in mathematics and science

By the federal government

• Incentivize development of higher quality assessments in mathematics and science for use by states and districts to evaluate teaching and learning and guide instructional improvement

• Fund research on the effects of new standards and assessments on student performance and on instruction

By governors and states

• Use the newly designed fewer, clearer, and higher standards as a foundation for developing assessment systems that inform instructional improvement, support curricular innovation, and give students, parents, and communities better information about school performance and student progress

• Work with other states to create national systems of assessment, data gathering, and data reporting and to create common validation frameworks for assessing the quality and effectiveness of state standards and to inform their periodic revision

By businesses, unions, nonprofit organizations, and other partners

• Endorse the development of new assessment and data systems to strengthen knowledge about student learning and provide a stronger foundation for continuous school improvement and innovation

• Engage in research and implementation of alternative assessments that better support the four strands of science learning identified in Taking Science to School

By philanthropy

• Fund research and development efforts to create new assessment systems that measure the performance of students, teachers, schools, and states in meeting new standards and generate information to inform the continuous upgrading of those standards

• Fund research on the effects of new standards and assessments on student performance and on instruction