A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Teachers and GOALS 2000: Leading the Journey Toward High Standards for All Students

What Do We Mean by "High Standards for All Students"?

Kentucky, California, Vermont, and other states are reorienting their school systems around this challenge. They're trying to move all children, not just a few, toward high standards of academic learning.

This is what the President's education initiatives are about. GOALS 2000, the School-to-Work Opportunities Act, the reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and others aim to support schools, families, and communities in doing the most important work in America: helping all children learn what they need to know and be able to do so that, as adults, they'll be able to get good jobs, be good citizens, and live good lives. By "all children," we mean exactly that -- students from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds; students with limited English proficiency or from migrant families; students from low- income homes; students who have special needs and disabilities; and students who are academically talented.

This is the defining challenge for American education in the remainder of this century. But what, exactly, do all students need to know and be able to do?

High school textbooks list 120 different technical words about the cell that students are often required to memorize, according to F. James Rutherford, director of the American Association for the Advance of Science's "Project 2061." Rutherford says that "We found 11 of the words were sufficient. If you concentrate on what goes on in the cell, how it relates to the system, you come out with a deeper understanding."
Statement at the release of Benchmarks for Science Literacy,
American Association for the Advancement of Science, Project
2061, 1993.

Most states are answering that question by developing or revising their standards (sometimes known as "curriculum frameworks") in core subject areas. They're using the expertise of classroom teachers, parents, scholars, administrators, and others to create standards that meet the needs of their own state. These state standards will serve as blueprints for schools, districts, and others developing classroom materials and lessons. These standards will also serve as guidelines for effective teacher preparation, professional development, and certification.

In creating their own standards, many states are drawing on model voluntary standards developed by national professional associations. Such model standards now exist in mathematics, the arts, geography, and civics. They're being developed in science, foreign languages, and other disciplines.

(For more information on projects that are developing model standards, please see Appendix 3)

When these standards -- especially when your state standards -- are completed, parents, colleagues, and others are going to wonder:

How do these new standards differ from what's now used in our schools? What will student work look like if students are advancing adequately toward those standards? What will instruction look like under the new standards? What about teachers' work and new roles? What about the roles of other adults -- parents, administrators, employers, and citizens?

Teacher leaders in every school and every community in the U.S. are needed to step in and answer these questions. As a teacher, you have something to offer that no one else has -- a commitment to children, knowledge of your subject, and experience in bringing the two together in the classroom every day of the school year.

You also know what high-standards student work is. Selecting high-quality pieces of student work and sharing them with colleagues, parents, community members, and other students can help clarify the level of achievement you expect of students.

As a teacher leader, you have something else that must drive your school and community's plans: a clear picture of how teaching and learning can change to move all children toward high standards.

That picture must be drawn, in part, from your own experience. It must also come from the vision emerging from new high standards: students using basic skills, academic knowledge, and habits of mind -- from across disciplines -- to think, to define problems, and solve them and to communicate.

To present a compelling picture of "where teaching and learning in our school needs to go," you must get thoroughly familiar with the standards being developed, and in some cases already available, in subjects you teach. That means getting a copy of the standards being developed by your state, by your district (if your district is developing standards), and by professional associations in your discipline. It means studying those standards and asking yourself, "How do my expectations for students compare with those set forth in these standards? What about the expectations of my colleagues, our students and parents, and our community?" It means using these and other questions to start a serious discussion in your school and community about "how we can help all students learn what they need to know and be able to do."

Standards are also being developed for nearly two dozen occupational areas. These "skill standards" will lay out what students need to know and be able to do to enter various occupations and succeed -- occupations such as electronics, health care, metalworking, chemical process industries, human service, computer-aided drafting and design, and others.

Mathematics

Standard 12: GEOMETRY

From the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics.

"In grades 5-8, the mathematics curriculum should include the study of the geometry of one, two, and three dimensions in a variety of situations so that students can:

Note: NCTM created about 13 standards like this one for three grade clusters (K-4, 5-8, 9-12). That's 40 standards, in all, plus explanations and sample learning activities. NCTM sees these standards as "a coherent vision of what it means to be mathematically literate." They are designed to be used to "guide the revision of the school mathematics curriculum" and assessment.

Once you're familiar with standards being developed in your subjects, if those standards make sense for your students -- if they point in the direction you believe teaching and learning must change -- then use them to make change happen. You might select a few standards to show colleagues, parents, teacher representatives, the department chair, curriculum specialist, students, and others. Present them at a meeting of your department, faculty, or parent organizations. Talk with your principal or superintendent about sitting down with local news reporters to help them understand. Write an opinion-editorial piece for the newspaper on "high standards and what must change if all students in our community are to reach them."

Tom Welch, a foreign language teacher at the time, served on the task force that developed Kentucky's Arts and Humanities standards. "I have never been involved in a more frustrating process," he says. "But it was the most tremendous professional growth opportunity I have ever had."
U.S. Department of Education, 1993

Many standards offer ideas for lesson plans. Begin tailoring those that are right for your students into instruction in your classroom. Begin your search for other lessons that can help all your students learn what they need to know and be able to do.

Teacher Forums

One way teachers are making an impact on policy-making is through "teacher forums." Begun in South Carolina by Terry Dozier, a history teacher serving as special advisor to Secretary Riley, the U.S. Department of Education's first National Teacher Forum was held in November 1993. [Honor What We Know, Listen To What We Say shares some of the many voices from this first National Teacher Forum.] Since then, teacher forums have been organized by teachers in nine states and communities in 1994, and many more are planned. For one forum, 48 teachers from across South Dakota gathered in Aberdeen to discuss standards and how to help all students reach them. A member of the state board of education who stopped by was so impressed that he arranged for the teachers' recommendations to be presented to the entire state board. Best of all, recalls forum organizer Donna Fisher, was what a teacher said afterward: "I'd just about decided I didn't want to teach in South Dakota any more," she told Fisher. "Our salaries are the lowest in the nation. Every time we tried to change the old ways or to improve standards, we were being hassled by critics. But now, after meeting all those wonderful teachers all over the state who care as much as I do, how can I quit? I've got to stay and do what I love for those kids -- right here in South Dakota." U.S. Department of Education, 1994

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