High Standards By What Measure?
Since the introduction of AYP measures more than eight years ago, we have heard many a tale of states accused of "cooking the books" in order to look strong under the latest school evaluation tools. The most common tale is that of states that continually drop their state standards, hoping to demonstrate the sort of continuous student gains the federal law was seeking. Instead of improving instruction, states simply lowered expectations. Each year, more students on the fringes would hit proficient. But what, exactly, did proficient mean?
Now that the U.S. Department of Education has taken up reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, issued a rallying cry for common core standards, and encouraged a strengthening of such standards through Race to the Top, the subject has taken on even greater importance. And now Education Next has offered up some startling statistics startling statistics regarding where states -- including those seen as the
