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Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Do we need national standards?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has spent billions to improve high schools and now the group is taking on other issues.
The foundation announced plans Tuesday to look at teacher quality, national learning standards and ways to help more low-income students earn college degrees.
Many of the issues seem a natural next step from high school reform. (You may remember that the foundation awarded Atlanta Public Schools $10.5 million in 2007 to help transform its high schools.)
The issue of national standards could be the hardest to achieve. Others have argued for this and failed. But few have the power of Bill Gates.
The foundation’s director of education programs said the group hopes to write its own standards and its own national test. Once these are developed, the foundation said any state can get the materials for free.
What do you think of national standards? How difficult will it be for everyone to agree on what students must learn and teachers should teach?
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