Did we learn from our mistakes regarding standards?

When I was in school, all students were expected to learn the same things. Graduation requirements were rigid, and the consequences of falling short far exceeded the consequences of surpassing requirements. There is a term commonly used for the requirements that students are expected to meet, standards.



There are numerous problems with standards. I have discussed them numerous times on this blog in the past. I expect they will come up in multiple posts that I add in the future. Instead of repeating myself too much, let me provide a quick summary. Standards, in order to maximize attainability, aim for the lowest common denominator. They do not represent the best goals for each individual, which are highly variable. High stakes encourage students to focus on areas of weakness while neglecting areas of strength. Ultimately, standards push students to conform to low standards.

When I first heard the idea behind No Child Left Behind, I immediately opposed the idea. Although the law didn't introduce any problems that I had not encountered during my school years, it was designed to strengthen and provide heavy-handed enforcement of standards. A lot of people around me seemed to support the law, and I felt a little out of place due to my strong criticism. Over time, people started to see the problems that I already identified. No Child Left Behind became increasingly criticized by others. As I long insisted, standards-based reform does not work.

How did we correct our mistake? Obama's Race to the Top. Race to the Top was essentially a revised version of No Child Left Behind. In some ways, it even expanded the mistakes. Because Obama pushed the law, it managed to avoid some of the same criticisms, but it was ultimately another failed attempt at standards-based reform.

Common Core is another example of standards-based reform. There have been different portrayals of the concept, but the primary idea behind Common Core was to create national standards instead of having different schools in different states embracing different standards. Once again, the public turned against a form of standards-based reform.

It should be obvious by now that a standards-based approach to education doesn't work. Unfortunately, we still have not learned our lesson. One of the changes many people are currently pushing is the alignment of high school graduation requirements and college entry requirements. This is the same concept. We want to ensure that all high schools embrace fixed standards for graduation. We also want to embrace fixed standards for entering college.

Since we insist on pushing these rigid anti-individual standards, we think that alignment of both sets is common sense. Many people referred to No Child Left Behind as common sense. Aligning standards relies on the same flaws. Laws requiring rigid standards will never address the problems caused by rigid standards.