The major differences between our country and most others are in the academic caliber of our teachers and the range of curricular choices.
More Training Is Needed
Sandra Stotsky is professor of education reform at the University of Arkansas.
Updated July 29, 2012, 7:06 PM
What measures of student achievement are fair, accurate, don’t lead to cheating and ensure accountability? Most countries have devised informative and inexpensive ways to measure student achievement. They use paper and pencil tests — largely essay-writing. They don’t need costly technological equipment to hold their schools accountable and prevent cheating.
High-stakes also play a positive role. As researcher Richard Phelps notes “Over 90 percent of over a thousand studies conducted between 1910 and 2010 shows that feedback, consequences (i.e., 'stakes') and frequency in testing all strongly increase academic achievement.”
There is no evidence that the mounds of paperwork imposed by government in the past half century have done much to improve our schools. The paperwork is more likely one cause of their dysfunction and a major source of teacher/administrator cheating.
The major differences between our country and most others are in the academic caliber of their teachers (who get paid to correct these essay tests at the end of the school year) and in the range of curricular choices offered adolescents to stimulate their motivation to complete high school. We do poorly on both counts.
Government can’t make students learn. Government can ensure safe schools, adequately equipped classrooms, good textbooks, library/media centers, music and art rooms, science lab facilities and athletic facilities.
Government can also establish demanding academic and other criteria for the selection of prospective teachers and administrators, for the content of their professional training, and for the hiring/retention of education school faculty. If school administrators and teachers are to be held accountable for student learning, then those who train them should also be held accountable for their performance, based in part on student scores.
We can find out if our teachers and administrators are effective by comparing our students’ performance levels on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, which assesses knowledge of mathematics and science gained from a rigorous curriculum, and the Program for International Student Assessment, which assesses daily life skills and minimal academic content.
Government can also finance and promote curriculum choices for young adolescents. As Massachusetts has shown with its 26 regional technical/career high schools, grade 8 students who choose to attend an occupationally oriented high school tend to stay in school and graduate. Accountability ultimately lies in their employability after high school, which is why most of these schools have long waiting lists.