Standards for Our Schools

"A must read for those seeking high standards for all students. With unusual insight, the authors address the major issues, offering inspirational examples of schools that succeed." --Jerome T. Murphy, professor and dean, Harvard Graduate School of Education

This timely, tough-minded book shows how American public schools can be saved by instituting high standards for academic achievement. It explains not just what the standards movement is about and why it is important, but also what it will take to bring every student up to high standards, no matter where that student starts.

Tucker and Codding focus on empowering both students and adults by giving students the gift of high expectations and by giving school professionals the information, skills, authority and resources needed to do the job. They advocate building a standards-based instructional system, creating a results-oriented culture devoted to continuous improvement, and making the institution and the people in it accountable for reaching the goals set by the standards.

Acknowledgments

The Authors

Prologue: The View from the Plains 1

Introduction: Failure Is Not an Option 17

Interlude: What Do You Mean, Tiffany Won't Get Credit for Algebra I? 25

1 Setting High Standards for Everyone 31

Interlude: But How Will We Actually Get These Kids to Algebra II? 65

2 Teaching to the Standards 73

Interlude: Upset Victory: Student Achievement 1, Everything Else 0 101

3 Leading and Managing for Success 107

Interlude: The School Nobody Wanted 133

4 Rethinking the Elementary and Middle Schools 139

Interlude: The Graphic Arts Academy 169

5 Beyond the Comprehensive High School 175

Interlude: Accountability, Chicago-Style 209

6 Rebuilding "Central" for Accountability 217

Epilogue: What We Owe Jeff 245

A The National Center on Education and the Economy 251

B New Standards Performance Standards 255

C New Standards Reference Examinations 291

D Resources for Standards-Based Education 301

E Glossary 313

F Annotated Bibliography 323

Notes 331

Index 335

Marc S. Tucker is president of the National Center on Education and the Economy and codirector of the New Standards Project, the nation's largest effort to create a system of performance standards for our schools. The creator of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and co-author of America's Choice: High Skills or Low Wages, he also coauthored the prize-winning Thinking for a Living: Education and the Wealth of Nations.

Judy B. Codding is vice-president for programs at the National Center on Education and the Economy. A former teacher at the elementary, middle and high school levels, Codding has also been an award-winning principal of one of Los Angeles' toughest high schools as well as of some of the wealthiest schools in New York's Westchester county. She was one of four charter principals who participated in the creation of Theodore Sizer's Coalition of Essential Schools.

Critical Acclaim for Standards for Our Schools

"A blueprint for forging great change in our nation's school system."
—Publishers Weekly

"A must-read for those seeking high standards for all students. With unusual insight, the authors address the major issues, offering inspirational examples of schools that succeed."
—Jerome T. Murphy, professor and dean, Harvard Graduate School of Education

"A clear explanation of standards-based reform, real examples of what works, and proven strategies for getting whole school change and better student achievement."
—Thomas W. Payzant, superintendent of schools, Boston Public Schools

"America is having a conversation with itself regarding standards. This book advances that conversation in very important ways."
—Delaine Eastin, state superintendent of public instruction, State of California

"If you care about rigorous education for every American child then you can't afford to skip reading this book."
—Lauren B. Resnick, professor of psychology and director, Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh

"A blueprint for forging great change in our nation's school system." —Publishers Weekly

"A must-read for those seeking high standards for all students. With unusual insight, the authors address the major issues, offering inspirational examples of schools that succeed." — Jerome T. Murphy, professor and dean, Harvard Graduate School of Education

"A clear explanation of standards-based reform, real examples of what works, and proven strategies for getting whole school change and better student achievement." —Thomas W. Payzant, superintendent of schools, Boston Public Schools

"America is having a conversation with itself regarding standards. This book advances that conversation in very important ways." —Delaine Eastin, state superintendent of public instruction, State of California

"If you care about rigorous education for every American child then you can't afford to skip reading this book." —Lauren B. Resnick, professor of psychology and director, Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh