document on national standards and tests

["Monty Neill" <monty@fairtest.org>]

I received in the mail today a document - Intergovernmental approaches for strengthening K-12 accountability systems - which is a transcript of a meeting of Oct 29, 2007, sponsored by the Rockefeller Inst of Govt. http://www.rockinst.org/WorkArea/showcontent.aspx?id=14230 for the document; Lynn Olsen of Ed Week wrote a summary, at http://www.rockinst.org/publications/subpage.aspx?id=14234.

I've read part 1, Intergovernmental Models for Setting Academic Standards, with Checker Finn and Michael Cohen as panelists. The lead presenter in part II is Bob Linn. Most of the time is spent in discussion among the 40 participants. I would note that based on names I recognized, the list of names, and the photos sprinkled throughout, there appeared to be one person of color (black). No union person and no person from a K-12 education association (principals, subect area groups) was present. The discussion involved some academics, mostly people from government and even more from the non- and for-profit private sectors. 

What these folks are doing is working out how to construct a system of national standards and assessments. There was no discussion of whether such a system is desirable - some on feasibility, far more on various ideas of how. Interestingly, at this point there was little push for attaching real stakes (wait till later, I assume...). Rather, the basic conception is that of the American Diploma Project: build standards that states will adopt in common (maybe with federal support, but not federal mandate); then construct assessments (lack of current quality was certainly mentioned). The claim is this will provide signals on what education should accomplish. Hard to see how stakes would not soon follow, tho the problem at least in the short term is that if the assessments could actually assess pretty comprehensively and accurately what students needed to do in college, vast numbers of students would not be "proficient." 

People raised lots of issues, from whether or what stakes to quality of tests to opportunity to learn - but, again, no one questioned the underlying premise. 

But given who was there, and that ADP is working in many states on this project, we can certainly see from this document a direction being taken on standards-based tests that I expect will become increasingly powerful. Note that the direction here is largely end-of-course exams, which more states are talking about doing and some actually implementing. 

Note also that ADP has worked from first-year-of-college expectations back to grade 1 to craft standards, grade by grade. Presumably these will not be national, but they are likely to be increasingly common. Whether tests are common, still state-based, purchased by states from companies, or whatever this group seemed less clear on - no one model of how to do the assessing emerged. Finn strongly argued for keeping NAEP separate, as did some others. 

I will read the second part when I can, but those interesting in studying the discussion among those promoting the standards and tests approach will find this interesting.

I'll close with an excerpt from Susan Traiman of the Business Roundtable: " Five years from now, approximately 2013, the United States will then have been at this whole process of standards, graduation requirements, for about 30 years. So what makes you think that the historians won't look back and say, "The country has spent 30 years fiddling around with standards and assessments and graduation requirements, and no more kids were college- and work-ready?"

Note to MA readers: Commissioner Mitchell Chester participated, and I think MA is part of ADP. 
Monty Neill, Ed.D.
Deputy Director
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