Small Town News

Reinventing the school system

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Summary: An education proposal that we should all take to heart.

Education standards are a much-debated topic.

The quality of a student's learning is dependent on so many different factors such as teachers, family life and even how test questions are worded.

In the big picture, however, it appears that a child's education hinges oh his or her ZIP code.

The United States relies on a very general system of standards that vary not only from state to state but from school district to school district. That's in stark contrast to other countries, many of which not only have the same type of standards but the same curriculum.

There is some benefit to a varying educational curriculum but in core studies, particularly math and science, there would be great benefit to students if everyone were on the same page.

That is the crux of a proposal put forth last week by the National Governors Association and a group representing state school superintendents. The concept lays out clear goals for what students should learn each year.

Fittingly, the goals put forth are not mediocre. It's an aspiring attempt to bring up the standards of American classrooms.

As the No Child Left Behind program has proven, states and individual school districts can alter standards to fit student achievements and not the other way around. That's an administrative way of cheating the system and, ultimately, the students.

Most states that reported stronger performance on their own weak tests did far worse on the more the rigorous federal test. This showed that American children were performing far more poorly in reading and math than state education officials wanted the public to know.

The standards proposed last week reflect what students must know to succeed in college and find good jobs in today's marketplace. As hard as it is to admit, schools in North Dakota have a long way to go to prepare kids for college much less the international job market.

Across the country, poor schooling has played a major part in crippling the work force.

The governors association and state superintendents are not calling for a national curriculum but rather standards that set forth the skills that children should learn from kindergarten through high school. The proposals are writing-intensive and build in complexity each year with the goal of developing strong reasoning skills.

Reinventing the U.S. public education system will take much more than adopting the proposals but it's a good starting point.



Copyright 2010 Turtle Mountain Star, Rolla, North Dakota. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2010 Turtle Mountain Star Rolla, North Dakota. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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