Improving Student Learning in Mathematics and Science The Role of National Standards in State Policy (1997) / Chapter Skim
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Recommendations for State Policy
Recommendations for State Policy
Pages 22-39
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4. Teaching Create policies and practices to ensure that wellqualified, highly competent teachers, whose practice is grounded in the mathematics and science standards, are in every elementary school, mathematics, and science classroom in the state.
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Instructional materials, especially textbooks, are the primary tools used by many teachers and seen by most parents as fundamental resources for student learning. They contribute to the curriculum, broadly defined, through their organization and delivery of content.
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Curriculum frameworks, funds for instructional materials, state assessments, preservice and inservice professional development programs, funding and other 24
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, 1996, 1997) , indicate a need for initiatives that are more coherent, systemic, sustained, and based on a commonly held set of high standards for student learning.
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In Washington State, raising public support for standards is the primary purpose of Partnership for Learning, a non-profit organization sponsored by Washington business and community leaders. The Partnership works to increase public awareness about the state's effort to raise academic standards in the public schools.
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Some of these positions include additional general responsibilities, such as technology, assessment, or professional development; others combine mathematics and science. Individuals in these positions may have a broad range of responsibilities and serve in a variety of roles: working on state policy, coordinating mathematics and science programs, overseeing the development of state curriculum frameworks, organizing for the adoption of instructional materials, developing or influencing state assessments, and giving guidance to state superintendents.
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State policies can assist local educators by providing more professional development time, supporting creative uses of in-school time Which may involve granting waivers of some state lawsl, and providing assistance to schools in designing and implementing alternative school schedules. Recommendation 2.
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Implement state policies that support the development of selection criteria for instructional materials based on standards and consistent with curriculum frameworks. In some states, such as those with state adoption panels, development of selection criteria occurs at the state level.
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Part of this capacity building is encouraging district selection committees not to "undo" states' good selection criteria, by applying outdated or restrictive criteria. As an example of state activity, Ohio's Statewide Systemic Initiative, Discovery, and the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse collaborated to review current middle grades science curricula, assessing the areas in which they align with the NRC Standards.
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, 19973. Many states have developed curriculum frameworks that take standards one step closer to the classroom, informing teachers and administrators about the meaning of standards, and suggesting how to design and organize instructional materials and learning experiences so their students will achieve the knowledge and skills described in the standards.
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Any effort to improve the curriculum through design of a framework and selection of new instructional materials should also include a plan for the implementation of the new program a plan that addresses the long-term nature of the change process; the need to identify and coordinate the actions of a variety of players and system components; and the attention required by individual teachers and administrators, school-based teams or departments, whole schools, and districts (Fullan, 1991; Hall & Hord, 19873. Further, implementation of changes needs to be based soundly on accurate data about the needs of teachers and student learning.
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Teaching Create policies and practices to ensure that wellqualified, highly competent teachers, whose practice is grounded in the mathematics and science standards, are in every elementary school, mathematics, and science classroom in the state. The development of standards at national, state, and local levels has heightened awareness once more of the critical role of the teacher in student learning.
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Teachers develop portfolios of their work, including videotapes of specific lessons that reflect the teaching expected by new student standards, analysis of student work, and written descriptions of ways in which they adapt instruction to the needs of individual learners. Ensuring the quality of preparation programs and teachers entering the profession is one thing; assisting those already in teaching positions to help their students achieve national standards is the role of ongoing professional development.
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For example, a key component of the Arkansas Statewide Systemic Initiative is the teacher training and professional development programs that have been developed around the NCTM Standards, the NRC Standards, and the Arkansas Science and Mathematics Curriculum Frameworks. A professional development program of particular interest is the K-4 Crusade, a two-semester, standards-based course that is offered at 11 of the state's universities and is open to all K-4 teachers and administrators.
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The SRI study of the 25 states funded by NSF for statewide systemic initiatives notes progress, but reports a mismatch in many states between the state goals established for student learning in standards and curriculum frameworks, and 36
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. Of the 35 states that used nontraditional exercises, 12 used enhanced multiple choice items; 31 used extended response or short, open-ended response items; and 8 used individual performance tests.
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With the standards movement largely directed at helping students reach ambitious learning goals, it is easy for assessment to be viewed primarily as measures of student learning. Yet teachers, principals, and local educators responsible for designing and delivering high quality science and mathematics education cannot make informed decisions without meaningful data about what actually goes on in classrooms: data on curriculum, instruction, and classroom conditions.
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This role can be played in different ways, from the more direct requirement for school plans based on data, to the support of professional development for teachers and administrators to learn alternative approaches to classroom assessment. At the national level, an action strategy for improving middle grades mathematics education is being developed simultaneously with the national eighth grade mathematics exam.
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