STRONG SIGNS THAT REFORMS ARE TAKING HOLD
By Anne C. Lewis for America Tomorrow
Anne C. Lewis
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LOS ANGELES--Various research results and presentations at the annual conference of the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing (CRESST) indicate that reforms are taking hold better than national leaders contend.
One of the reasons for proposing national tests in reading and math, according to Administration officials, is because they believe the standards movement has stalled. The CRESST conference, however, said the movement is healthy although cautious. Furthermore, new assessments are helping to push the button.
This is some of the evidence discussed:
- Surveys of principals attending the UCLA principals' center found them to be committed to standards and assessments grounded in new views of math, as in the California frameworks and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards. Principals prefer performance-based testing for evaluating their programs and reporting to parents. They also said that less than half of teachers understood norm-referenced test results and less than 20 percent of parents did.
- Curriculum and state assessments are driving change in Kentucky's schools, according to studies by RAND researchers. Because of the state's reforms, teachers are getting quality professional development. Teachers in schools that have made high gains on the assessment "are using more of everything," seeking leadership roles, and working in schools with cohesive staffs that support the reforms.
- New Standards spent five years developing standards and assessments and now is helping teachers carry out the reforms. According to Lauren Resnick, major designer and researcher for New Standards, the data about the effect of good professional development is just now coming in. Teachers participating in California's Math Renaissance, "one of the nation's most elegant professional development efforts," are moving their least successful students up in math achievement, she reported, showing data on their growth in math concepts and problem solving as well as skills. She also cited improved achievement results from semi-rural and urban districts where teachers are involved in intensive professional development. "I point to these as early evidence that very clear standards, assessments referenced to professional development that is based on those standards, and a driving commitment to kids can start to make a difference with some of the lowest-achieving students," she said.
The videos comparing teaching in the United States with teachers in Germany and Japan, part of the Third International Math and Science Study, show how much alike teaching is in this country despite the rhetoric about diversity, said James Stigler of UCLA, who headed the video project. He also said that typical reform efforts don't work. Seventy percent of the teachers interviewed for the tapes said they were making reforms, but the classroom evidence showed "superficial changes, sometimes for the worse." The video evidence does point the way to improving teaching, however, according to Stigler. It must be done in the context of teaching with teachers working together in small groups, as in Japan, over a long period of time ,a feature of some of the staff development where progress is being made. "We don't need a reform system" he said," but, rather, an intensive effort based on gradual and continuous improvement of teaching."
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