School Reform Based on What Is Taught and Learned.

Abstract

There will be disputes as each state moves at its own pace to implement standards-based reforms, Mr. Jennings predicts. But these disputes must not distract us from seeing the importance of this major change in American education. When you learned to drive a car or to play the piano or the violin or to fly a plane, you were told what you needed to know. Then you were guided and corrected as you went along. If you did not drive or play or fly correctly, you were taught some more, and then you tried again. What could be a more logical way to learn something? It makes perfect sense that you would be told what you were to know, then helped along as you tried to master the material, and then given another chance to do it if you didn't perform just right the first time. That sensible way to learn is not the way that American public schools now operate in many important respects. But it is the way that students will be educated once a major reform of elementary and secondary education that has recently begun is finally implemented. In American schools today, teachers explain material to students, help them to understand what they are doing right, and correct them when they are not mastering the material. And when teachers control the tests, they try to help students along so that they can do better the next time. But students, teachers, and the schools are often held accountable for performance on tests that students cannot learn to and teachers cannot teach to. Moreover, the results are not revealed to teachers or students, so there is no chance to learn from mistakes and work to do better next time. Schools are caught in a crapshoot in which teachers are teaching in the dark and students are being tested in the dark. It amounts to a gotcha game. Students are not told exactly what they are going to be tested on, nor are they told afterward which questions they answered wrong so that they can learn the material for another time. Is it any wonder that high school students are not motivated to learn? They don't see the relevance of what they are taught, since that's not what they are held accountable for. Many important decisions about students' lives are made in similar fashion. An example that is easy to understand involves the SAT I, the country's most famous assessment, which is used every year to help determine the admission of hundreds of thousands of high school students to college. A student cannot study for the SAT because the test prides itself on not being based on any one curriculum. A student can spend money to attend an SAT preparation course run by a private company, but all that company can do is to give some pointers on test-taking techniques and hazard some guesses as to the types of questions likely to appear on the test. No one but the Educational Testing Service, which writes the SAT, knows for sure what will be on the test. And those students who cannot afford the fees of those private courses are not even given the benefit of the educated guesses of the test preparation companies. Admission to college is not the only matter decided in this fashion. Many states also require a student to pass a standardized test in order to graduate from high school, and many school districts require students to pass a test to proceed from one grade to the next. All of these major decisions are made on the basis of tests that cannot be taught because they consist of material that is unknown and whose results are not revealed afterward so that students can learn from their errors. Does this seem like a strange system of education? If we were to learn to drive, play a musical instrument, or fly a plane in this way, there would be many more car wrecks, discordant noises, and plane crashes than there are now. Imagine having to guess the right ways to drive, play music, or fly. Is it any wonder then that the public schools are struggling so hard to improve and, in the popular opinion, not succeeding? …

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