Why are standards important?
What are standards?
Standards spell out what students are expected to learn in each grade and each subject. Each state Department of Education creates standards for schools within the state. These standards become the basis for the way teachers are trained, what they teach and what is on state standardized tests that students take. For example, a first-grade math standard may state that by the end of first grade students are expected to count by 2s, 5s and 10s to 100.
Where do standards come from?
The standards "movement" grew out of frustration in the late 1990s with a fragmented public school system with many levels of bureaucracy — local, state, national — in which expectations for students varied widely and too few poor and minority students were achieving. The thinking among researchers was that if clear and challenging content standards were set, then teachers would teach to those standards and tests would measure if students were meeting the goals.
The results have been mixed. Student achievement has gotten better, particularly in states such as Delaware, Massachusetts, New York and Texas that were early adopters. But progress has not been as quick or gone as far as many would have hoped. Although poor and minority students have made gains, there is still a big difference — commonly called "the achievement gap" — between what these students have achieved when compared to their more affluent and white peers.
How are state standards different from national ones?
National standards are created by a variety of national organizations. Unlike state standards, which all public schools in a particular state are required to use, national standards are voluntary and students are not held accountable to them. Some states use them as guidelines for creating their own state standards or simply adopt them as their state standards.
Why are standards important?
Without standards, districts and schools don't have goals to shoot for. By matching what is taught in the classroom to the standards in each subject area, students (and their parents and teachers) will know what teachers should be teaching, what students should be learning and what they will be tested on.
What's the downside of having standards?
Critics argue that having rigid standards and tests discourages schools from being innovative and inspiring creativity in their students. Because the emphasis is on basic skills such as reading and math, subjects that are not tested, such as art and history, get less emphasis in the classroom.
