Reply #16: Standards are a tricky thing. [View All]

Too many people think it just means the answers to the test. Nothing wrong with standards, but without doing it well, there is no point. Every standards initiative I have been a part of always fell apart at the delivery standards. Until you can guarantee equality and equity, all the curriculum standards or even performance standards will be just so much paper work. Districts, states, and parents always balk when you start talking about the cost of performance standards and assessment. They never get to the really costly standards which are the delivery standards. There is the cost to improve buildings in some districts. And how do you address the issues of inequality between suburban millionaire districts and poor rural or inner city schools. You can't hold kids to standards if there isn't equity, let alone equality.

All the talk about standards is just neocon gobble code for "Let's come up with new ways to show that schools are failing." Rigged and Dishonest.

Thanks again Mad for your tireless efforts.