From the Dec. 4, 1996 Daily Report Card:
-> *4   STANDARDS:  WHY NOT GO NATIONAL?
->    BUSINESS WEEK reviews two international studies released
-> last month that compare math and science scores of U.S. students
-> versus their foreign counterparts (Pannar, 11/25).  The studies,
-> released by the National Science Foundation and the National
-> Center for Education Statistics both revealed that American
-> students are lagging in math and science (See DRCs 10/23/96 and
-> 11/22/96).
->    William Schmidt, professor of education at Michigan State U
-> blames the lack of a "single, coherent vision of what students
-> need to learn" for the failure of U.S. students to score well on math
-> and science tests, reports the magazine.  Schmidt, who is
-> the U.S. research coordinator for the study released by the
-> National Center for Education Statistics also points out that the
-> typical U.S. math teacher "offers a variety of problems and
-> exercises in a scatter-shot, 'episodic' fashion," writes BUSINESS
-> WEEK.
->    A decentralized school system is the cause of this "lack of
-> vision" in teaching math and science, according to Schmidt,
-> writes the magazine.  While national standards in math and
-> science have been developed, they have been implemented in a
-> "rather haphazard way," writes the magazine.  If more schools
-> bought into the standards, classroom instruction would improve
-> and textbook publishers would have an incentive to develop higher
-> quality books, claims Schmidt.
->    However, some educators loath the new math and science
-> standards.  "The math standards are too touchy-feely," complains E.D.
-> Hirsch Jr., author of "The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have
-> Them."  Others agree with Hirsch, complaining that the
-> standards leave out basic arithmetic skills because they
-> discourage rote learning.
->    National Council of Teachers of Mathematics President Gail
-> Burrill counters that "computational skills are as important as they
-> were" in the math standards produced by her group.  BUSINESS WEEK
-> adds that the science standards call for less time to be
-> spent in high school biology on taxonomy in order to spend more time
-> on genetics, biochemistry and other topics.
->    According to the magazine, the math and science standards
-> "hold promise" because they "introduce coherence without
-> rigidity."  U of Michigan professor Harold Stevenson also lauds
-> national standards.  Stevenson:  "National standards say a child
-> should understand say, the relationship between a circle and a
-> cylinder.  But they don't say how and when to explain that."
->    Yet, "American schools will never adopt a national
-> curriculum under duress," writes the magazine.  BUSINESS WEEK
-> points to an emerging clearinghouse, Achieve, established by the
-> National Governors Association, which will "permit state
-> officials to measure academic performance in all subjects against
-> other states."  Stanley Litow, IBM vice-president for corporate
-> community relations, holds that Achieve should "drive the quality of
-> the standards up" by featuring programs and standards that
-> work and those that fail.
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