(Vol. 1, No. 2 - Spring 1997)
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What issues do schools face
as they grapple with standards?
When teachers begin to open up to each other and talk about using academic
standards as the foundation for teaching and learning, what issues confront
them? According to principals and teachers, these are some of the basic
concerns they have to work through:
Thinking about standards first, then lessons and units.
Says Marshall Middle School principal Penny O'Toole: "The most important
task in standards-based reform is to shift thinking from 'which standard
can I stick into the lesson' to looking at the standards first."
Balancing student effort with higher expectations. Teachers
often intuitively respond to students who are making an effort but are still
struggling to perform as they should. Standards force teachers to rethink
their attitudes and ask whether giving grades for effort robs students of
incentive and lessens the pressure on teachers to improve instruction. "It's
really a dilemma," says Harriet Boyer, history teacher at Bancroft
Middle School. "Sometimes it can rip you up inside because you see
the kid is trying so hard." Even so, says Rogers principal Linda Moore,
teachers must help students understand what's expected of them. "That's
the real world," she says. "Whoever is in charge sets the expectations."
Where's the time? The daily routine of school is enough
to wear down the hardiest teacher. Many teachers are also studying to earn
additional teaching credentials and serving on school and district councils
and committees. "We need more on-site professional development,"
says Nell Agnew, 6th grade English/history teacher at Hamilton. "Teachers
buy in when it is their own colleagues they are sharing with. But we don't
have time in the school day to share." This issue of time in the school
day for professional development has not yet been addressed by many schools.
Keeping professional development "on task." Teachers
are involved in myriad professional development activities, across every
subject area, and every teacher has his or her favorites. With time at a
premium, teachers and principals must always be thinking: "How can
we link our existing professional development to the quest for standards-based
teaching?"
Teachers must do a better job assigning and assessing student work.
Teachers have always graded papers, but in a standards-based school, teachers
must make the assessment of student work an integral part of their teaching
-- letting students know on the front end what quality work looks like and
what standards they're expected to meet. Once assignments are completed,
teachers must not only give students feedback about their progress in meeting
standards, they must study the assignments to learn how effective their
own teaching has been.
Site councils must be on board. In Long Beach Unified,
many school decisions are made by site councils. Many principals agree that
site-based decisions in the past have been more about management issues
than instructional ones. Getting site councils more involved in standards-based
reform is "absolutely critical" to its ultimate success, says
Lynn Winters, the district's research and assessment chief.
Putting school priorities and standards-based reforms together.
When Penny O'Toole looked over student achievement data at Marshall, she
realized that "reading for understanding" was a major problem
for students. Now the school is focused on reading strategies and writing
for a variety of purposes. At Rogers, the staff is determined to prevent
any student from being held back at the eighth grade. In some schools, these
kinds of immediate priorities can push standards-based reform to the back
burner (see Anne Lewis' column). But
the principals at Marshall and Rogers are working to meet their top priorities
within the framework of content standards. "Our kids aren't dumb,"
asserts O'Toole. "It's just that we've backed off from what we want
them to do. Standards tell us we must have a purpose for what we do."
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