The Standards Movement and High School Tracking

Standards are here, and curriculum directors and teams of teachers are continuing to improve them so that they set a high bar for what students are to know and learn in each subject area. Of course, I dare say most practicing teachers give them little more than a cursory glance and are not evaluated based upon the degree to which they have met the standards. Some standards are very general, others are specific. Few things are currently aligned with most state standards out there. Textbook companies usually align their curriculum to the standards of the biggest textbook market states, such as California and Texas, with cursory modifications for some other states as needed. Each state is free to use its own end of course tests, which may or may not be well aligned to the standards. Knowing this, it's no wonder that many veteran teachers see the Standards Movement as just the latest fad in education- here for now, out of style in a few years. Some experts even argue that attempting to align tests and textbooks to standards would be a tremendous effort that at the end of the day would be very superficial, given that the standards do not entirely capture the body of information or skills needed for any discipline, and neither can any test.

Nevertheless, our education system needs to be ratcheted up in performance. That is clear. As the American manufacturing base has been steadily eroding for the last 30 years and the middle and high income jobs require bachelors degrees or more, we must try to prepare more students to enter college so that they can earn a decent living. The factory and blue collar jobs of previous generations still exist, but are much harder to come by than in the past, and pay comparatively less than they used to.

Many would argue that we are trying to fit square pegs into round holes by compelling more children than ever before to prepare for college. A walk through any school at any grade level would revel that some kids excel at school and learning while other struggle to varying degrees. It is painfully clear that the playing field is not level, nor can teachers do everything that is needed to level it. Many students will be rebellious and unstudious right through their senior year in high school, then not be able to gain admittance into a 4 year or even a 2 year college. That's why I believe we should try to actively teach students about the ways our country's job markets and economy are changing, giving them a much deeper knowledge of how important it is that they work hard in school. Even with this though, kids are still kids. We cannot prepare everyone for college and high wage earning potential. We can do our best to try though, which will mean reevaluating teaching methods at all grade levels, revamping the curriculum in key areas, and abolishing tracking as we know it today in our public high schools. If we claim to be preparing all high school students for the same destination where they will need competitive skills, we are hypocritical to allow some students to take Standard algebra and others to take Honors and AP algebra. Why does one student need Standard English while the other needs Honors English? These labels are burned in the brains of our young people, and very much, without a doubt, turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy for them. Enough with the schizophrenia. If we're going to have uniform standards and push all students towards post-secondary education, we must abolish tracking and have all students take "Honors" or better courses for graduation. But what about the student who makes it to the 9th grade and has a 4th grade reading level, you ask? What about all those students who can't pass high school foreign language requirements needed for admittance into the vast majority of colleges? Should we have students like this sit in Honors English with the students who are on target with their skills? If this reasoning is used, Standard classes become a holding area for the inept students in need of remediation. However, most students who take Standard classes are not inept or learning-challenged at all, they're merely wanting to do the "cool thing" by not excelling at school, clowning around, and being with their friends. How do we make sure these students don't turn into under achievers who end up not learning what they need to to survive in college due to the proven worse teaching they received in Standard classes? Simple, we abolish the Standard label all together and compel students to rise to the higher expectations. If this seems crazy, then perhaps it's time to admit that our goals for higher achievement for every student are a little too high.