Standards Need Not Be Lockstep
I take issue with Elliot Eisner's distinction between standards and criteria (“Why Standards May Not Improve Schools,” February 1993.) Standards need not be limited to the notion of lockstep units of measurement. In fact, good standards should be applicable to rich, idiosyncratic, and personal kinds of student work.
In science, one standard might be whether the student masters 10 aspects of science learning. Clearly, this kind of measurement would lead to what Eisner fears—a mechanistic, quantitative formulation of knowledge and performance.
On the other hand, students can be evaluated on their ability to demonstrate competence of a certain elegance, complexity, and coherence. Standards currently being developed for history and the arts and those already developed for mathematics describe complex quality of performance and include criteria for judging student work in a sophisticated and qualitative way. Standards of this nature emphasize the very qualities of education that Eisner is looking for.
—Ramsay W. Selden, Director State Education Assessment Center Council of Chief State School Officers Washington, D.C.
Only Educators Know the Real Story
It was distressing to read John O'Neil's suggestion that educators might some day follow the example of Jaime Escalante and help all students attain higher standards (“Can National Standards Make a Difference?” February 1993).
The implication is that Escalante took a random group of high school students and turned them into calculus whizzes. It didn't happen that way, according to Jay Matthews in Escalante (Holt: 1988). Given the 3,000 students at Garfield High, it would be surprising if a small group didn't pass an AP test in calculus. Did you get your information from Stand and Deliver? That's like getting history from JFK?
Harold Stevenson is right (“Why Asian Students Still Outdistance Americans”). Our schools are in trouble. For one thing, the chasm between rhetoric and the day-to-day life of the American school is too great. Nobody who deals with young people regularly could suggest that all students can meet world-class standards.
I've been teaching for 30 years, 25 of them in a high school that is 97 percent Hispanic. My radical suggestion: nobody writes anything about education who doesn't have responsibility for a classroom of K–12 students (college doesn't count).
—William C. Nadeau, El Centro, California
Special Ed Children Need Not Be Hurt by Standards
I was touched by “Darlene's Story: When Standards Can Hurt,” (February 1993). But I would hope that Richard Brogdon's arguments do not set limited expectations for students like Darlene. Researchers such as Palincsar, Carnine, and Roth prove that mildly handicapped learners can attain significant education outcomes in “regular education” classrooms.
It is my hope that the quality movement in education won't permit the waste of human talent of students like Darlene.
—Randolph J. Schenkat, Director Winona Council of Quality Winona, Minnesota
