The standards movement has surged ahead during the past five years, said Robert Schwartz, president of Achieve, Inc., a nonprofit organization that works with states to improve the quality of standards, tests, and accountability systems. Since 1996, the number of states with standards in the core academic subjects has risen from 14 to 49, Schwartz noted. In addition, "the states have invested substantial dollars in the development of new assessments that are aligned with standards."
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An encouraging number of states are moving beyond relying solely on multiple-choice tests, he said. For example, "virtually all states are assessing writing not by fill-in-the-blank [tests] but by actually asking kids to write."
State accountability systems are "beginning to come into play," Schwartz said, as more states issue school report cards, link tests to promotion or graduation, provide extra funds for low-performing schools, and create sanctions for low- performing schools and rewards for high-performing ones. "It's clear that tying high school graduation, at least in part, to performance on statewide tests is becoming a national movement," he said. "By 2003, more than half the states will have such requirements in place."
Given the debate over high stakes, where does the public stand? Virtually all polls show strong public support for the "core propositions" of the standards movement—the need for higher standards and more accountability, Schwartz said. "Typically, between 75 and 80 percent of parents support these propositions."
Teacher support, however, is mixed. "On the one hand, substantial numbers of teachers cite the benefits of standards-based reform," Schwartz said. "They see this as a move in the right direction; they agree that the curriculum is more demanding than it was and that teacher expectations are now higher for all students." But teachers also say that they need more support. When asked whether they are getting enough professional development about state standards, fewer than one-third of teachers say "yes."
Nor should we be complacent about public support, Schwartz said. "An awful lot of folks out there are still not even aware that their state has academic standards, so there's a continuing need to make the case for these higher standards." (For more information, visit http://www.achieve.org.)