Reading the tea leaves on state standards

If you look at Texas, based on Friday's vote to approve a controversial new social studies curriculum, you'd conclude that states are reaffirming their right to make their own judgments and decisions, even when there is enormous pressure to do otherwise. But if you look at Massachusetts, you'd conclude that states (or at least this one) might be giving up some "local control."

That's one of the ways to interpret the news out of Massachusetts. The story there is that state education officials are looking seriously at a proposal to do away with standards in English and math (the "MCAS" exams) and replace them with standards developed across many states -- or perhaps even to-be-crafted national standards: http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/mcas/articles/2010/05/20/education_officials_may_scrap_mcas_test/

So is there a single way the wind is blowing, or are there multiple crosswinds? Perhaps the primary conclusion is that the standards issue is in flux and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Even in Texas, where the curriculum vote is binding for the next decade? Yes, even in Texas. If a new (i.e. Democrat) governor is elected in November, the curriculum issue could theoretically be brought up again before the state Board of Education.

And in Massachusetts, while some are already bemoaning what is seen as a possible retreat from rigorous state standards, it's clear that there are many potential outcomes, including multi-state standards, national standards, or some version of state standards cobbled together with them. Naturally, money is at the root of some of this: Massachusetts, like some other states, may have lost out on early Federal "Race to the Top" funding because of a perception that state officials didn't want to water down stringent local standards. Now, perhaps, that position is being rethought.

It's the educator in the classroom who faces the greatest challenge in the long run. She or he still has to teach those twenty-five-or-so students every day AND ensure that what is being taught meets the (sometimes rapidly changing) standards. It's just one of the reasons why our customized materials are striking such a chord with district decision-makers. Because we can develop and produce new content quickly, customized Walch programs can meet new standards and easily be re-fashioned if the standards alter.