Raising Standards for American Education: A Report to Congress, the Secretary of Education, the National Education Goals Panel, and the American PeopleRecommendations by the National Council on Education Standards and Testing (NCEST) are provided concerning whether national standards and a system of assessments are desirable and feasible and how national standards and a system of assessments are to be developed and implemented. The NCEST found that the absence of explicit national standards keyed to world-class levels of performance severely hampers the ability to monitor the nation's progress toward the six national education goals. Without well-defined and demanding standards, American education has gravitated toward "de facto" national minimum expectations, with curricula focusing on low-level reading and arithmetic skills and on small amounts of factual material in other content areas. Most current assessment methods cannot determine if students are acquiring the skills/knowledge they need to prosper in the future. These assessments reinforce the emphasis on low-level skills and processing bits of data rather than on problem solving and critical thinking. It is concluded that high national education standards and a voluntary linked system of assessments are desirable and feasible mechanisms for raising expectations, revitalizing instruction, and rejuvenating education reform efforts for all American schools and students. The NCEST will work toward local commitment to high national expectation for achievement for all students, and toward developing Federal, state, and local policies that ensure high quality resources (instructional materials and well-prepared teachers). Acknowledgments; authorization for the NCEST; public comments; the six national education goals; and reports of the standards, assessment, implementation, English, mathematics, science, history, and geography task forces of the NCEST are appended. (RLC) |
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American appropriate areas Assessment of Educational assessment system California challenging consensus content and performance content standards Council member Council on Education Council recommends created curricula Department of Education desirability and feasibility Develop National Education Goals Panel education system effort ensure equity evaluation expectations federal focus Geographic Education geography grades guidelines Hampton Roads Academy high standards high-stakes Illinois State University implementation important incentives issues John Hainkel levels mathematics misuse monitoring NAEP National Assessment National Council National Education Goals national education standards National Geographic Society NCTM NCTM standards NESAC opportunity to learn outcomes parents performance assessment performance standards professional development programs reform require skills South Carolina standard-setting standards and assessments Standards and Testing student achievement student performance subject matter system of assessments Task Force teaching U.S. Department U.S. Senate validity voluntary Walter Massey world-class standards