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Looking at StandardsLooking at Standards

Marion Brady

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Race To The Top:Race To The Top:

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For three days in October, 1892, nine school administrators and one college professor met in Saratoga, New York. Out of that meeting came a recommendation that all high schools in the U.S. offer the same curriculum.

A little history:A little history:

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The next year, 1893, high schools across America began adopting the math-science-language arts-social studies curriculum now called “the core.”

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All fifty states have developed “standards” for the core, detailing what learners should know.

And they either have, are developing, or are buying, standardized tests to find out if learners are meeting the standards.

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As might be expected, the standards differ from state to state. Many believe this blocks development of a “world class” American educational system.

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Start with the core curriculum,Start with the core curriculum, To level the playing field, replace state To level the playing field, replace state

standards with nationalstandards with national standards and tests,standards and tests, Use test scores to grade and rank schools, Use test scores to grade and rank schools,

school systems, and states,school systems, and states, Widely publicize all grades and rankings,Widely publicize all grades and rankings, Let competition work its magic.Let competition work its magic.

Here’s a plan:Here’s a plan:

Simple. Straightforward. Commonsensical.

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The learners are evenly matchedThe learners are evenly matched The scores are manipulation-proofThe scores are manipulation-proof The tests are free of social class, rural-The tests are free of social class, rural-

urban, regional, ethnic, and cultural biasurban, regional, ethnic, and cultural bias

Simple. Straightforward. Commonsensical.

IFIF

Here’s how to verify this:

Within one week of completing the test, post learner situational data, scoring procedures, and all test questions on the Internet.

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—on which the wisdom of national standards and tests depends:

There’s a fourth “IF”—

…IF that 1892 core curriculum is sound.

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In fact, our 1892 curriculum has some problems. It:

1. Ignores new, vast and important fields of knowledge.*

*Each of these problems is explored in books, journal articles, and Knight-Ridder/Tribune newspaper columns. See www.MarionBrady.com.

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The 1892 curriculum:

2. Has no criteria establishing what new knowledge to teach, or what old knowledge to discard to make room for the new.

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The 1892 curriculum:

3. Breaks knowledge apart, ignoring its systemic, mutually supportive nature.

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The 1892 curriculum:

4. Is keyed not to learner aptitudes, abilities, and interests, but to learner ages.

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The 1892 curriculum:

5. Has no built-in mechanisms forcing it to adapt to change.

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The 1892 curriculum:

6. Disregards the brain’s need for order, organization, pattern.

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The 1892 curriculum:

7. Is so inefficient it leaves little or no time for apprenticeships, internships, co-op programs, projects, and so on.

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The 1892 curriculum:

8. Emphasizes secondhand rather than firsthand knowledge.

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The 1892 curriculum:

9. Vastly overworks short-term memory.

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The 1892 curriculum:

10. Treats brain-building art, music, dance, play, and so on, as “frills.”

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The 1892 curriculum:

11. Costs a great deal to “deliver.”

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The 1892 curriculum:

12. Doesn’t progress smoothly through levels of increasing complexity.

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The 1892 curriculum:

13. Emphasizes reading to the neglect of other ways of learning.

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The 1892 curriculum:

14. Is so at odds with the natural desire to learn that laws, threats and promises are necessary to keep learners on task.

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The 1892 curriculum:

15. Is silent on complex ethical and moral questions.

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The 1892 curriculum:

16. Isolates educators in “fields,” making dialog about their shared task difficult.

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The 1892 curriculum:

17. Gives thought processes other than recall short shrift, or no attention at all.

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The 1892 curriculum:

18. Snubs major sources of America’s past strength and success — individual initiative, imagination, and creativity.

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The 1892 curriculum:

19. Lends itself to “minimum standards” testing rather than maximum performance evaluations.

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The 1892 curriculum:

20. Has no overarching aim.

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In education, the curriculum is where the rubber meets the road. Before locking America’s 19th Century curriculum in permanent place with national standards and national tests, might it be wise to ask ourselves a question:

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those tests are keyed to standards,those tests are keyed to standards, the standards are keyed to the 1892 the standards are keyed to the 1892

curriculum,curriculum, that 1892 curriculum suffers from the 20 that 1892 curriculum suffers from the 20

problems noted above?problems noted above?

How smart is it to let test scores drive education reform, IF:

The Question:The Question:

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To encourage dialog, this presentation is offered free of charge, and may be used, duplicated and distributed in its original form without permission of the authors. Excerpts must follow fair use rules, with proper credits.

Connections: Investigating Reality is an example of a curriculum free of the problems summarized earlier. Download it from:

http://www.marionbrady.com

It’s available without cost.

Copyright © 2009 by Marion Brady and Howard Brady.

Marion Brady4285 North Indian River DriveCocoa, Florida 32927Email: mbrady22@cfl.rr.com