Academic Content Standards: Ohio Makes the Grade
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Political Landscape section is a collection of news items, updates, and essays on policy issues, state and federal legislation, academic standards, testing issues, the politics of funding, and other issues.
Say what we want about all the testing, standards will be around for a while. And if we take a good look, we can see the benefits.
As Educational Leadership reports, “When they are well devised and implemented, academic standards and tests, and the accountability provisions tied to them, can change the nature of teaching and learning” (Gandal & Vranek, 2002).
Making the Grade
Wrangling over the Social Studies and Science standards aside, Ohio was recently lauded by ACHIEVE, a nonprofit, bipartisan group launched after the 1996 National Education Summit in Washington, DC.
Initially, Ohio was criticized by ACHIEVE, as reported in the Columbus Dispatch. In 1999, the ACHIEVE report was “critical of the state, saying Ohio lacked rigorous academic standards and a strong accountability system.”
Latest Report
From the Dispatch story: “Now, ACHIEVE’s latest report—a look at progress made nationally toward forming clearer standards and holding schools more accountable for results—singles out what has been accomplished in the Buckeye State.
Ohio was among several states that made a serious effort to respond to ACHIEVE’s analysis, and their standards have improved substantially.
The report cited new standards approved in Ohio for English and math and noted that standards-based exams are to be in place in the 2003-04 school year.
The Standards Advantage
As school and district leaders, we finally have an ally in our battle to improve teaching and learning. Through intelligent action, we can use standards to
- Professionalize teaching
- Enhance the motivation and efficacy of a weary faculty
- Meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student body
- Achieve success with “standards-based” reforms. (Sagor, 2000)
Sources
Columbus Dispatch, November 14, 2002
Gandal, M. & Vranek, J. (2002, September). Standards: here today, here tomorrow, Educational Leadership, 59, 6-13.
Sagor, R. (2000). Guiding school improvement with action research. Alexandria,
VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
