In 1983, the U.S. Department of Education's landmark report A Nation at Risk trumpeted the failure of American schools and called for drastic and immediate reform. The rise of the standards movement is a response to that call, culminating in an initiative established by national and state leaders called Goals 2000, which set eight goals for public schools. To assist schools in reaching these goals, the Department of Education drafted model standards in each area typically taught in school, and encouraged individual state departments of education to implement these standards in some form. Indeed, all states but Iowa have adopted state standards. (Iowa has elected to leave the responsibility to local districts.)
Ideally, the state creates standards, aligns curricula with the standards, trains teachers, allows time for implementation in the classroom, and then administers a test that measures student achievement of the standards. Although use of standards for day-to-day work in the classroom has benefits for both students and teachers, problems arise when tests are administered before teachers and students are ready.
What Are the Stakes?
The batteries of state assessments that stem from the proliferation of standards at state and national levels are growing ever more important, not only to students, but also to school districts. The emerging wisdom seems to be that we should go ahead with standards and standardized state tests but be wary about attaching such high stakes to them. "High stakes tests," in a nutshell, are those that have real consequences-whether they be negative (summer school, retention, etc.) or positive (scholarships, additional funding for the school, etc.)-for the student, and, often, for the school as well.
The entire school team, central and school administrators and teachers, work together to ensure that the standardized test helps the school gather valuable information about student performance. They need to keep the community informed both before and after the test, determine how the district can make the best use of the testing process and results, train teachers efficiently and productively, and see that key skills to be tested are incorporated into teachers' daily lessons. The delicate balance must be maintained between teaching the curriculum and teaching the test but, when done well, standardized testing can refocus and strengthen public education.
Get Active
So where does that leave you? Parents, whose role in education has traditionally been limited to bake sales and monitoring homework, have generally been left "out of the loop" in the development of standards. The purpose of this book is to help you understand the standards movement and its crucial role in your teen's education and to help you become an active partner in it. We hope that this book will serve parents of students who will increasingly be taking high stakes standardized assessments. It will provide you with information about how standards came about, how schools are using them now, and how you can become a valued participant in the continuing discussion.
You are entitled to accountability from your schools about what they have done and are doing to improve the quality of education. This book shows you how to ask for information about the standardized tests, both to become an active participant in the discussion of how to prepare students for the standardized testing and to help reinforce the work of the school at home.
Guide for the Perplexed
The first section, "Understanding Standardized State Tests," provides a guide to the standards movement, tells you what you need to know about standardized state tests, and describes how schools prepare for them. These three chapters outline the origins of the standards movement, describe the role state and federal governments have played so far, and explain how you can stay current with changes in standards and testing for your state. Here it is important to note that the standards movement in education is changing and expanding rapidly. The examples that you read here are not set in stone, but indicate trends, patterns, and ideas.
In addition, the first three chapters explain the roles of the various groups in the school district: central and school administrators and teachers. Each has a distinct set of tasks to help the school prepare for the state test. When you try to familiarize yourself with the whole standardized test picture, it is helpful to know who has responsibility for what areas, so that you direct your concerns and questions in the appropriate direction.
Section two, "Opening the Lines of Communication," provides you with goals, protocols, and questions to use in initiating and continuing communication with teachers and administrators in your schools, with your own teenager, and with other parents. Since parents have been reluctant to intrude on the school's turf in terms of professional issues like testing, and since many parents and teachers are anxious about communicating with each other, we include specific strategies to increase your confidence and help to answer your questions and concerns. We also include strategies for communicating with your teenager; although your child is growing more independent every day, your interest still means a great deal and can reinforce the work of the school most positively. Finally, we suggest ways to get yourselves and other parents involved on an ongoing basis in the standards movement.
Even More Help
Because it is so important to speak the same language when sitting down at the table with school personnel, we have also included a glossary of key terminology and ideas about standards and testing in the "Information for Parents" section at the end of the book. It gives both definitions and suggestions for ways to clarify how the term applies in your teen's classes. Also included in the appendixes for your reference and further inquiry are state-by-state test surveys, Internet resources and other reading material, and more.
Dozens of public opinion polls and surveys resoundingly confirm that parents are an essential component of public education. Furthermore, parents who receive encouragement and training to become involved in standards work can make significant contributions to the school and community, and help to realize the full potential of the standards movement.
Fortified with the philosophy behind the standards movement, the practical knowledge of who does what, the strategies to get involved, and the key vocabulary, we hope that you will become a confident participant in the exciting changes going on in education. We also hope that
High Stakes High School will help you join other parents to make your contributions even more significant.
