Here's the situation as education consultants Richard Strong and Harvey Silver see it: School must be the place where students develop good thought processes. School must also be the place that prepares students to meet—and to show that they've met—national and state standards.
They wondered: Is there a set of standards that addresses both goals?
Certainly not the majority of content and process standards assessed in statewide tests, Strong said. Many of these standards "are too constraining"—they leave little room for teachers to vary instruction to meet students' specific learning needs. It is also unrealistic to expect that the pressure to hold students to standards will ease any time soon, he added.
- Read and understand challenging texts (rigor).
- Do research, write, and solve problems (thought).
- Apply school learning in civic and career settings (authenticity).
- Reflect on their own life experiences and draw upon their own resources, as well as the resources of others (diversity).
The diversity standard applies to instruction, too, noted Strong. In this case, he explained, "diversity means the educator's ability to provide sufficiently varied instruction to allow all students to learn and succeed."
These standards, Strong asserted, "are manageable, measurable, and flexible enough to permit creativity between teachers and students." And, when coupled with the instructional strategies that he and Silver recommend, they help students achieve. "As we worked in districts on these four standards, we found that there was a 20 percent increase in students' scores on tests," Strong stated.
He attributed that increase, in part, to the standards' focus on reading, writing, and analysis. Improved student achievement is also a result of the emphasis he and Silver placed on professional development, he maintained.
"Our feeling is that when the assessment movement became part of schools, instruction was pushed to the side." It's okay to raise standards, Strong asserted, but "you also have to provide teachers with the tools they need to help students meet those standards."