National Academic Standards in K-12 Education

Purpose
NASSP states its support of national standards in grades K-12 Reading/English and Mathematics.

Issue
International tests like the Program of International Student Assessments (PISA) or Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) have revealed that a number of countries are rapidly outranking the United States in critical subjects like mathematics and science. In addition, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) shows wide gaps among state performance standards and between state and NAEP standards. The No Child Left Behind Act, which aims to educate all students to proficiency by 2014, has never clearly defined what proficiency means and this gap has resulted in weakened standards of proficiency in many states.

The pursuit of equal educational opportunities for all children in the new global environment, the growing need to address issues in an economically, politically, environmentally, and socially flattened world, and the high mobility rate of US students demand that student proficiency be measured against a consistent and rigorous set of common national standards and assessments.

The call for national standards is not new but has been historically opposed by those policymakers and educators who view it as an unacceptable intrusion of the federal government in state affairs. Indeed the U.S. Constitution implicitly grants states jurisdiction over education, and states contribute the highest percentage of education costs. Since it only provides 7–8% of per-pupil spending, the federal government is not well positioned to define, establish, and mandate national standards. It can, however, play an important role in providing resources for states to adopt national standards at a level which will truly prepare all children for their future – as individuals and as productive members of our nation and in a global society.

It is important to remember that the disparity of results among and within states often reflects an uneven distribution of Title I funding from the federal government to the states and from the states to the districts, with the unfortunate result that the most vulnerable children receive less funding for their education than their more advantaged peers. Open access and support services to all students will be crucial to the successful implementation of this policy.

Guiding Principles
NASSP believes that:

• Each student should acquire a body of essential knowledge and skills in order to prosper in an interdependent world
• Common standards and high-quality assessments are needed to measure the acquisition of the requisite learnings in a rigorous, authentic, and coherent fashion
• States, which have constitutional responsibility for education and are the highest contributing entities to education spending, should play an important role in the development of national standards and assessments. States and local education authorities should have the flexibility to design curriculum and instruction geared toward the common standards

Recommendations
NASSP calls on Congress to:

• Appoint an independent, diverse group of researchers, practitioners, advocates, and experts to develop a set of common national standards and authentic, reliable assessments beginning with Language Arts and mathematics in grades K-12 and examine the feasibility of national standards in other subjects
• Abandon the punitive provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act and provide resources to states in the form of grants to adopt those common standards and prepare all schools for these higher expectations
• Provide funding for the development and administration of national assessments beginning with Language Arts and mathematics in grades K-12 to replace current state assessments
• Provide significant financial resources for states to adopt national standards and tests aligned with those standards
• Enhance the capacity of states to deliver robust support services for at risk students
• Require that the U.S. Department of Education evaluate progress made by states on a regular basis and issue progress reports

NASSP calls on states to:

• Actively participate in the development and adoption of national standards and assessments in grades K-12 beginning with Language Arts and mathematics
• Hold public discussions on the need for national standards and assessments in a climate of collaboration with educators, parents, and community leaders
• Design, in collaboration with local education authorities, appropriately aligned curricula and instruction to meet those common standards
• Provide, in collaboration with local education authorities, robust support services and ongoing professional development to build the capacity of schools around these new requirements, with a focus on schools located in low income areas
• Provide incentives to local education authorities in the form of grants, research, and professional expertise to allow them to build strong support and enrichment systems to meet more effectively the needs of every student

NASSP calls on educators to:

• Embrace national standards and assessments as a way to prepare a new generation of knowledgeable and creative citizens who can effectively lead and collaborate in the new global economy.

References

Achieve, Inc. American Diploma Project Network. Closing the Expectations Gap. 2007

Barth, P. Center for Public Education, Score wars: Comparing the National Assessment of Educational Progress with state assessments. http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org. National School Board Association. March 2006

Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century. Rising above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future. Executive Summary. National Academy of Sciences. 2007

Cronin, J. Dahlin,M. Adkins, D. and Kingsbury, G. The Proficiency Illusion. Thomas Fordham Institute and Northwest Evaluation Association. October 2007

Dillon, S. Students Ace State Tests, but Earn D’s From U.S. The New York Times. November 26, 2005

Hall, D. Kennedy, S. Primary Progress, Secondary Challenge: A State-by-State Look at Student Achievement Patters. The Education Trust. 2006

Liu, G. Interstate Inequality in Educational Opportunity. In 81 NYU Law Rev. 2044. 2006

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Adopted May 7, 2008