What's so Standard about Standards?

During the past decade, educators, professional groups, politicians, and others have discussed much information (and misinformation) about national education standards. In 1989, when the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) released its landmark document Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics, a stampede of education standards followed, including the release in 1996 of the National Science Education Standards. Now nearly every content area has developed standards. What about these standards is useful and how should they be disseminated for use? How can these various education standards have a significant impact on practice in our schools and not end up as dusty documents lining bookshelves? About the time of the release of the National Science Education Standards, we at the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) conducted a random sample of our membership. We asked our teacher members if they thought that the science standards would have an impact on our schools. An overwhelming percentage answered affirmatively. The NSTA membership and other teachers I have talked with are, by and large, very optimistic about the positive impact that science standards can have. Interesting results emerged when teachers were asked: "What barriers stand in the way of allowing you to successfully implement science standards?" Although a number of barriers were identified, three stood out more than others: Time. Teachers run a marathon every day from the moment they arrive at school until they leave at night. There is little time for planning, preparation, or interaction with colleagues. Also, there is little time available for professional development to better prepare teachers in the skills suggested by the standards. Resources. Change requires support, both in terms of laboratory equipment and instructional materials, and in terms of human support. Teachers want and need quality instructional materials that go beyond mentioning the science standards to describing and illustrating true integration of them. They also need science education leaders to help them navigate their way through standards-based reform. By this I mean people who find professional development opportunities and funding for them, establish science materials resource centers, and support teacher participation in local and regional meetings. Isolation. Perhaps most surprising for adults who spend their entire day with people is that teachers feel a tremendous sense of isolation. Unlike many other countries that provide teachers with time during the day to plan with colleagues, teachers in the United States have few opportunities to work with other teachers, to attend professional meetings, or to keep up with changes in their field. The give and take that many professionals take for granted is not experienced by most teachers. This isolation is a key factor in many of them leaving their classrooms for other more collegial work. With standards now available and with teachers reporting strong interest in them, what are the next steps? Two years ago the NSTA developed an approach for helping integrate standards meaningfully into individual classrooms. To make sure that teachers and administrators across the nation understand what these science standards are and how they can be useful, the NSTA is engaging in an ambitious project to provide a copy of the National Science Education Standards to every one of the more than 100,000 school buildings in the United States. But a book in a building won't bring about reform, so NSTA is going a step further. We are identifying a Point of Contact in each of these buildings who will be supported in efforts to promote reform through knowledge of the science standards and knowledge of the educational change process. These Points of Contact serve as conduits for resources and communications going between state and national science education associations and the schools. Initially, the Building a Presence program was started with a grant from the Exxon Education Foundation, which provided funds to support 10 states and the District of Columbia. Texas was the pilot state and, after two years of work, nearly 80 percent of the state's schools have Points of Contact who have been through professional development workshops on the standards. Building a Presence has more recently been able to go beyond disseminating the National Science Education Standards. Nearly every state has revised its own state frameworks or curriculums in the last few years, and most of the science portions are closely related to the national science standards. Building a Presence activities in each state have provided effective ways to integrate state and national standards, thereby strengthening reform initiatives. Now Building a Presence for Science is in 13 states and the District of Columbia and has brought in new funding partners. Each participating state is unique, and each one also follows the basic approach, indicating that there is strong interest in both state and national standards among science teachers across the country. The challenge before science educators has always been to capture the vision of the standards and to make it real in instructional materials and classrooms throughout this nation. Another basic message of the standards is that for reform to succeed, it must be systemic, occurring simultaneously at all levels of the educational system. Teachers are critical to the implementation of the standards, but they alone cannot make the standards a reality. They require support with educational materials, assessments, and resources that are in alignment with the standards. The past few days (March 25-28), the NSTA national convention, the largest meeting of science teachers held anywhere, was held in Boston. Nearly 20,000 educators from all over the United States shared information and techniques aimed at bringing inquiry-based science into every classroom, improving the critical thinking skills, and increasing the scientific curiosity of every American student. Despite some misgivings about educational standards, teachers want them to take hold. The National Science Education Standards have the potential to change science education. Building a Presence for Science is one of many programs, all of which have the ability to increase the effectiveness and pervasiveness of education reform. As teachers are increasingly able to access a wider range of resources, the standards will be able to take hold, both in the teaching and in the learning of science. Steven J. Rakow, Ph.D., is president of the National Science Teachers Association (1998-1999) and Chair of Curriculum and Instruction at University of Houston, Clear Lake, Houston, Texas 77058. E-mail: rakow@cl.uh.edu

What's so Standard about Standards?

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