A panel of educators convened by the nation’s governors and state school superintendents proposed a uniform set of academic standards on Wednesday, laying out their vision for what all the nation’s public school children should learn in math and English, year by year, from kindergarten to high school graduation.
The new proposals could transform American education, replacing the patchwork of standards ranging from mediocre to world-class that have been written by local educators in every state.
Under the proposed standards for English, for example, fifth graders would be expected to explain the differences between drama and prose, and to identify elements of drama like characters, dialogue and stage directions. Seventh graders would study, among other math concepts, proportional relationships, operations with rational numbers and solutions for linear equations.
The new standards are likely to touch off a vast effort to rewrite textbooks, train teachers and produce appropriate tests, if a critical mass of states adopts them in coming months, as seems likely. But there could be opposition in some states, like Massachusetts, which already has high standards that advocates may want to keep.
“I’d say this is one of the most important events of the last several years in American education,” said Chester E. Finn Jr., a former assistant secretary of education who has been an advocate for national standards for nearly two decades. “Now we have the possibility that for the first time, states could come together around new standards and high school graduation requirements that are ambitious and coherent. This is a big deal.”
…another initial step to nationalizing our education system.
I goggled at the following:
[blockquote]proportional relationships, operations with rational numbers and solutions for linear equations[/blockquote]
On looking them up I realize I remember how to do these things (which is a relief) but they were never referred to in that way. Why do we need this sort of mathematical jargon in discussing K-12 education, pray tell?
They can raise the standards to “world-class” all they want. If they can’t get the kid motivated to learn, and get their parents involved… things will never change.
[blockquote]The Obama administration quickly endorsed the effort. Under the Department of Education’s Race to the Top initiative, in which states are competing for a share of $4 billion in school improvement money, states can earn 40 points of the possible 500 for participating in the common effort and adopting the new standards. Under current law, there is no penalty for states that choose not to participate.[/blockquote]
Leave it to the NYT and Mr. Obama to predictably advocate for National standards for education. I remember when Federal Aid to Education was debated when I was in High School. The argument against it then was loss of local control of curriculum. Well, if your school needs federal dollars to operate then who is controlling the curriculum? I am most concerned about a unified view, politically driven and one textbook for each subject.
Education is properly a state and local responsibility. The Federal government has no business interfering whether with mandated standards or financial bribery.
Amen, evan millar.
[blockquote] Amendment X: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. [/blockquote]
Seems pretty clear to me.
as the federal gov’t has intruded more and more into education, most prominently with the creation of the Dept. of Ed. during the Carter years, how has student performance been affected? To my understanding it has not helped at all, and in fact student performance is down in some cases. Yet we need yet more federal intervention? Hmmm…
Mr. Bonner, if you goggle at those, then you are a lot older than me, or you weren’t paying attention in elementary school back in the 1960s, where I first encountered all of those.
National Standards imply a national standards enforcement body of some type.
That might explain [url=http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/03/what_does_the_education_depart.html]this[/url]
Nothing to see here. move along.
Mr. Wingate,
Must have been the English system c. 1975-1985. No math teacher (or text book) ever used that terminology that I recall. But then we weren’t taught formal grammar (except in Latin and French), which in retrospect I regret.
Ah well.
National Standards would be a method of inculcating a standard form of political correctness or “right think” in our school children.
#11
And I firmly believe that’s it’s real purpose.
I’m sure it’s the French influence, but a federal education system doesn’t scare me in the least.
Before any attempt at setting national standards is made, there is a critical question to answer. What is education for? Not everyone agrees on the answer. Many people used to think that getting an education was the best way to gain employment. But, without jobs to fill, what good does an education do? We already have some pretty fierce grade/diploma/degree inflation and the jobs are still disappearing, as well as changing character. Some people used to think it was about raising the general cultural level of everyone in the society. But, there is increasing disagreement on what constitutes culture these days. And then there is the problem of defining education…is it a body of knowledge to be mastered, or is it a process to be learned…and who has the authority to decide which it is, what it consists of, and how to go about achieving the goal? Once the question of what education is for is answered it may be possible to decide whether it is best to set standards at the local, state, or national level. Until then, it’s a waste of time. Sorry to raise so many questions, but the folks who want to have national standards seem to have the cart several meters in front of the horse. My two cents.
“Under the proposed standards for English, for example, fifth graders would be expected to explain the differences between drama and prose, and to identify elements of drama like characters, dialogue and stage directions.”
Part of the problem is that by testing via multiple choice, computer scored means, one ends up testing (and teaching) the stuff that isn’t important.
I really don’t care if my fifth grader identifies what the guy on stage says as “dialogue”, or is able to explain the difference between prose and drama. What I do care about is that that fifth grader be able to read and understand most fiction, and age appropriate nonfiction. I wish a fifth grader to be able to write a book report rapidly and clearly.
Thus the appropriate test would not be an easy computer scored on on elements of drama, but a short story to read, followed by an essay on what it meant.
I am less interested in my seventh grader understanding math concepts such as “proportional relationships, operations with rational numbers and solutions for linear equations” as I am interested in them being able to rapidly solve, WITHOUT a calculater all functions in addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, fractions, decimals, and percents. If they are going to study algebra, I with them to be able to SOLVE linear equations, not just “understand math concepts”. Until they are ready to study algebra, working on “understanding math concepts” such as linear equations is a waste of their time, that would be better spent memorizing their multiplication tables.
#15
AMEN!
Remember “Effective Schools”? Remember “Core Curriculuum”? Remember “What Every _th/_nd Grader Should Know”? Remember,…naw, just forget it.
Those who forget history are doomed to repeat its mistakes (and, just as importantly, throw away its successes).
I have recently finished reading some essay tests done by a group of adults (actually, adult students in the Bethel Teacher Training program) and am APPALLED at the products. Of 8 essays, only 2 are anywhere near readable. The remaining 6 are poorly punctuated, full of misspellings, and grammatically mixed up. In none of the 8 is there evidence of thoughtful planning in the presentation–a beginning, a middle, an end. Three other essays remain to be corrected but are on computer–the first 8 are handwritten.
I say all this to point out that present-day adults demonstrate little knowledge of critical thinking in the planning and presentation of their essays. Apparently they also cannot spell or use grammatically correct construction. These are folks who are COLLEGE EDUCATED yet who balk at writing an essay test for 1 1/2 hours–and well they should! Would a national standard have helped them? They are the products of all the past attempts at national standards (#17) and they demonstrate the failure of the same!
I was a college educator for years. College students are consistently below “grade level” in such simple functions as presenting a cogent written report, doing junior-high math (fractions, ratios), and demonstrating knowledge of historical implications of current events. I truly believe the teachers unions have been the downfall of public education; the only person the union helps is the teacher.
Would we rather have the present [i]de facto[/i] national standards set by the influence of textbook guidelines adopted by the [url=http://www.statesman.com/news/texas/texas-ed-board-adopts-social-studies-standards-346630.html]Texas State Board of Education[/url]? See today’s latest installment in this saga at the highlighted link.
#19
Dale,
I’d be delighted to have my state adopt the Texas standards highlighted in the link you provided. They seem to correct much of the absurd PC garbage being taught these days.
I think the interplay between Dale (#19) and Evan (#20) is important. Whenever you think about consolidating power in order to keep the “bad guys” out, remember that eventually the “bad guys” may get hold of the power in their own turn and work to keep you out.
Dale, if you think National Standards are the way to keep things like creationism out of the schools, what will do you when those evil right-wingers take control of the National Standards and force everyone to teach it?
Sorry, Dale, but you’ve apparently missed the trend in textbook publishing. Texas, as the biggest textbook market, has long dominated in matters of content, which has freaked out the PC crowd for quite a while now.
But our state exams aren’t all multiple choice, as someone above protested. For ELA, the students have to read essays and stories, identify common themes and literary devices, and write short-answer responses and a major essay. The high school ELA exams are given in February so that they can be read and graded by the summer.
I do think we need national standards so that students are “free to move about the country” without detriment. Could our Texas students move to New Hampshire and enter a school seamlessly without having to play catch up? I hope so, but I’m not confident about that. I know that academic rigor varies greatly within our Great State of Texas, so a student from Plano likely could but a student from Brownsville probably could not. This limits our students’ higher education success, as well.
National alignment would be good — a heavy-handed, punitive approach would not. I’m not sure how to achieve the balance, but there it is.
Learn a lesson from England with its National Curriculum. Educational “standards” have become a political football there, with each side claiming credit for “success”, and relentless pressures to up the scores. But the truth is, exams are much easier than they were 10-15 years ago (as any comparison of exam content shows) and the qualifications are becoming meaningless. Naturally this has depleted the meaning of a university degree as well.
A terrible idea – as usual. But there may be one redeeming factor: Raising standards for performance may force some teachers out – this can’t happen too soon – and may demand the hiring of teachers who can pass something else except Elementary Education. Here’s a rule: Never hire teachers who major in education.
And the basic idea still stinks. Financial aid, e.g., will depend on standardized tests, while local schools -for the all ARE still local – will be left out if they are a part of a local society that is not bright, well educated, well employed and upwardly mobile. A guarantee that winners will continue to win and losers lose. Education is NOT a commodity, it is NOT a business, and its successes do not run by those rules. Larry
The more influence the local people have on the curriculum of a school, the more they will care about their children learning. If the parents do not care, the kids will not either – and they will either fail or not try at all, except for a relative few who are natural scholars.