The Study

Professors Suzanne Wilson and Robert Floden note in their article that the 1980s and 1990s saw a “virtual standards tidal wave.” It is in this context of rapid expansion that the researchers offer a preliminary analysis of schools’ experience with standards-based reform.

Findings

The authors draw their analysis from data compiled as part of a three-year study by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education. That study tracked curriculum in 23 school districts in eight states. The researchers interviewed teachers, principals, and district staff as they responded to local, state, and national pressures to reform teaching and learning. There was also more intensive data collection in four states, including Michigan, and in the third year, the researchers surveyed teachers. Essential to their investigation into the impact of standards-based reform (SBR) was determining the varieties of SBR teachers encountered in schools. What they found -- as exemplified by four schools they profiled in the article -- was a variety of interpretations of standards-based reform. For some teachers, the standards-based reform was hardly noticeable “flowing into a large stream of other reforms.” Other teachers found SBR provided clarity and language for thinking about their practice. But the researchers also found that a few teachers viewed the standards as constraining, “well-intentioned efforts to raise the quality of all teaching but stifling for teachers who have a history of raising professional standards on their own.” Given the varieties of SBR teachers encountered, the researchers consistently found teachers and administrators seeking to take a “balanced” approach, which mostly meant a commitment to mixing old with new, and using their professional judgment. So what has been the result of standards-based reform? “When we consider SBR’s impact (in various manifestations), we find ourselves both hopeful and jaded,” the researchers conclude. “For some teachers, the clarity of standards and aligned accountability systems proved a catalyst for creating a more coherent practice... But most teaching remained more familiar than new, more ordinary than challenging... While some rhetoric would have us believe that SBR has the potential for transforming teaching and learning, we’d be naive to hold such hope.”

What It Means To You

As Wilson and Floden found, standards-based reform means different things to different teachers and administrators. Some view standards positively while others consider them limiting. How do teachers in your district view your state’s standards?  Have the standards led to changes in teaching practices?

For More Information

Wilson, S.M. & Floden, R.E. (2001). Hedging bets: Standards-based reform in classrooms. In Fuhrman, S.H. (Ed.), From the capitol to the classroom: Standards-based reform in the states (pp.193-216). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

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