For the past 10 years a movement has been developing in education. A growing discontentment with the level of performance in our public school students has caused administrators, teachers, parents and politicians to seek a way to better prepare our children to compete successfully in an emerging global economy. What is being proposed are standards, an attempt to increase student achievement and to align schools to have a certain level of coherence in curriculum. Although it sounds logical, even attractive, standards have been plagued with controversy. .
Supporters contend that standards will benefit public schools in many ways. Some benefits noted are that standards will:.
Communicate that all students can achieve at a higher level.
Create a demand for new improved assessments.
Revitalize classroom experience.
(Alexander, 1993).
Other supporters say that national standards will:.
Hold schools and teachers accountable.
Bring national cohesion and uniformity to teacher training and student expectations therefore easing geographic mobility.
Succeed at uplifting the poor and disadvantaged.
(Nelson, Palonsky, Carlson, 2000) .
Two success stories of the standards movement that have been cited exist in Texas and Chicago. Both school systems implemented a standardized testing program as an assessment tool that is said to promote higher student achievement. They permit individual schools to make decisions about curriculum and instruction. These tests measure the extent to which each school is meeting its goals and responsibilities to provide educational quality to all children (Hurwitz & Hurwitz, 2000). .
Critics point out that although standardized tests accurately measure a narrow aspect of student achievement, they tell little of student learning. They teach children to become effective test takers but may not create better learners (Brooks & Brooks, 1999). As a result of what the tests reported, programs and resources had to be enacted to help at-risk students attain success (Hurwitz and Hurwitz, 2000).
