Testing, Teaching, and Learning A Guide for States and School Districts (1999) / Chapter Skim
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2 Toward a Theory of Action
2 Toward a Theory of Action
Pages 15-22
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From page 15... ...
Beginning with the publication of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards in 1989, and accelerating after the establishment a year later of the national education goals, educators and policy makers have increasingly focused on standards for student performance as the centerpiece of education reform; indeed, the idea has since acquired the name "standards-based reform." The Title I statute fits squarely within that tradition. Generally, the idea of standards-based reform states that, if states set high standards for student performance, develop assessments that measure student performance against the standards, give schools the flexibility they need to change curriculum, instruction, and school organization to enable their students to meet the standards, and hold schools strictly accountable for meeting performance standards, then student achievement will rise.
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From page 16... ...
, for example, found that North Carolina and Texas have produced gains in student performance through the implementation of standards-based systems. Other evidence comes from Europe and Asia, where national systems of education have produced curriculum guides and related assessments, and where many countries outperform the United States on international assessments (Schmidt et al., 1998~.
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From page 17... ...
For example, administrators say, schools have pulled Title I students out of their regular classrooms in order to provide specialized instruction for them, even though research suggests that such programs have been implemented in ineffective ways, because schools were required to demonstrate that they were in fact providing compensatory education services to eligible children. Standards-based reform changes the rules of the game by measuring performance against standards rather than compliance with procedures.
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From page 18... ...
Rather, they suggested, what the two states had in common were a set of statewide policies that coincided with the increases in test scores. These policies were: statewide academic standards, by grade, for clear teaching objectives, holding all students to the same standards, statewide assessments closely linked to the standards, accountability systems with consequences for results, increasing local flexibility for administrators and teachers, computerized feedback systems and data for continuous improvement, shifting resources 18 TESTING, TEACHING, AND LEARNING
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From page 19... ...
Case studies of reform efforts in San Antonio, Philadelphia, and Memphis, for example, show that these districts achieved gains after instituting standards-based accountability systems and assistance to local schools to revise curricular and instructional practices (Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights, 1998~. Other studies suggest that if the link between standards-based policies at the state and district levels and instructional improvement at the school level is not clear-cut, then higher student performance may not result.
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From page 20... ...
Everyone students, parents, teachers, principals, district administrators, state officials, and policy makers at the district, state, and federal levels knows what it is expected, what they will be measured on, and what the results imply for what they should do next. Those directly responsible for raising student performance teachers and schools have access to highquality information about performance and about the effects of their instrucF~:~:~E 2~2 Expanded model of the theory of action of standards-based reform: An .
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From page 21... ...
Classroom assessments provide frequent and detailed information about individual student strengths and weaknesses, district assessments monitor school progress toward standards, and state assessments provide data for use in accountability systems. School reports consist of a range of measures which include indicators of instructional practices, as well as student work and test scores that provide a complete picture of performance.
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From page 22... ...
Accountability creates an incentive for students, teachers, and administrators to focus their attention on the standards. It also closes the loop in the system by providing an explicit link to instructional improvement; rather than hit the hammer harder, administrators provide assistance where the accountability measures suggest it is needed, and direct teachers' and school administrators' attention to the standards.
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