Panel Proposes Single Standard for All Schools

[FarCenter]

By SAM DILLON - Published: March 10, 2010

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.”

In recent years, many states moved in the opposite direction, lowering standards to make it easier for students to pass tests and for schools to avoid penalties under the 2002 federal No Child Left Behind law.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/education/11educ.html?th&emc=th

[jody]

1. How often do "new proposals . . . transform American education"? IMO the only way education

can be transformed is either by teaching new subjects or changing the teaching process.

I see no reason to teach new subjects in "math and English" or science because those who do poorly are not mastering basic concepts in those fields.

Is changing the teaching process the answer?

If "Yes" then how?

[Oregone]

2. American education method is fucked and needs a complete overhaul

Proof: Those who were raised under it now control Congress and banks


Something is wrong, right? :)

[jody]

3. IMO students who want to learn can be thwarted by students who don't want to learn unless they can

get into a school with specialized courses or curricula.

[Oregone]

4. Not in my old HS. They seperated everyone into multiple tiers

They only taught the advanced kids (determined by their success 8th grade year) how to take the SAT and learn college vocabulary. I had 3 years of learning how to take the SAT test, and the last year AP English and AP Calc.

All the rest were somewhat neglected. Not that everyone should go to college, but a little better job training could of been used. And for God's sake...you are started on this trajectory in fuckn middle school.

[EFerrari]

6. I never had any of that and still managed to do fine.

The worst thing that happened was that I'd get very bored waiting. On the other hand, learning a measure of patience was not a bad thing for that hyper little girl. Oh, and I walked to school five miles in the snow uphill both ways, too. :)

[jody]

7. I didn't walk to school but I did ride a bus for over an hour and that after getting up to milk cows

[stopbush]

5. First, scrap NCLB which is the source of much of the crisis in education right now.

Then, promise to pay for any mandates issued by the Feds BEFORE said mandates are issued. If the Feds aren't going to fund the mandates, then they shouldn't issue them. Then, set the very highest standards in math, science, social studies and English and provide whatever funding is needed to bring failing and questionable schools up to snuff.

BTW - I include science because the anti-science forces are busy at work trying to rewrite science textbooks to include the STUPIDITIES of creationism. We can't waste any time knocking down the promotion of abject IGNORANCE that the Bible thumpers in TX and elsewhere are currently getting away with.