National Standards in Education?

This from today's Washington Post.

Experts convened by the nation's governors and state schools chiefs on Monday proposed a set of math and English skills students should master before high school graduation, the first step toward what advocates hope will become common standards driving instruction in classrooms from coast to coast.

Read more in the article entitled Skills Set Drafted for Students Nationwide. Then go read the proposal, posted at the site Common Core State Standards Initiative.

Focus on Children, Not Testing

The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) has issued a new report entitled The Learning Compact Redefined: A Call to Action. Here is an excerpt.

Current educational practice and policy focus overwhelmingly on academic achievement. This achievement, however, is but one element of student learning and development and only a part of any complete system of educational accountability.

Together, these elements support the development of a child who is healthy, knowledgeable, motivated, and engaged.

To develop the whole child requires that

Communities provide

• Family support and involvement.
• Government, civic, and business support and resources.
• Volunteers and advocates.
• Support for their districts’ coordinated school health councils or other collaborative structures.

Schools provide

• Challenging and engaging curriculum.
• Adequate professional development with collaborative planning time embedded within the school day.
• A safe, healthy, orderly, and trusting environment.
• High‐quality teachers and administrators.
• A climate that supports strong relationships between adults and students.
• Support for coordinated school health councils or other collaborative structures that are active in the school.

Teachers provide

• Evidence‐based assessment and instructional practices.
• Rich content and an engaging learning climate.
• Student and family connectedness.
• Effective classroom management.
• Modeling of healthy behaviors.

This report is all about changing the focus of our conversations to what is best for children, and recognizing that the continued emphasis solely on tests and test scores is not enough. Take just a few minutes to read this report. It's time for a change.