A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Theme 1. High standards for all children--with the elements of education aligned, so that everything is working together to help all students reach those standards

High standards that apply to all students. Regardless of the program or the child's needs, the same high standards must apply. As Vermont's Green Mountain Challenge states, "High standards for all students--no exceptions, no excuses." ESEA calls on schools to raise standards for all children--and all means all.

• The primary goal of the new Title I, Part A is to enable disadvantaged children to meet the same challenging standards that each State has established for all its children. States, districts, and schools are asked to make a powerful break with past practice, replacing minimum standards for some children with challenging standards for all. The same high academic standards used for Title I also apply to students served throughout all ESEA programs, including Migrant Education, Indian Education, Bilingual Education, and others.

• Under Title I, States submit plans demonstrating that they have developed--or will develop by school year 1997-98--challenging academic content standards in math and reading/language arts, at a minimum. States also must define two levels of high performance--proficient and advanced--and a partially proficient level that can be used to determine whether children are learning the material in their content standards. To promote one set of challenging standards, States that have developed standards for all their students under Goals 2000 or another State process must use those standards for ESEA. Only in the absence of overall standards for all children may States develop standards specifically for Title I.

• High standards for teaching and learning also apply to educational programs in State juvenile facilities. In the Title I, Part D program for neglected and delinquent youth, juvenile correctional institutions must provide at least 20 hours of weekly instruction as a condition for receiving federal funds. This doubles the amount of instruction now required of juvenile facilities, bringing it more in line with what local school districts offer.

• Title VII discretionary grants aim to help LEP students develop full proficiency in English while they build achievement in all curricular areas, so that these students will reach the same challenging standards as all other children.

• The Title IX Indian Education program, like other ESEA programs, supports high standards for Indian students--the same as for all students. Title IX requires school districts to specify in their funding applications the performance goals that they will use for Indian students, their plans for addressing student needs through federal, State, and local programs, and their strategies for assessing student progress. The law also charges States with new roles and responsibilities to ensure that Indian children and adults are adequately educated.

Example of North Dakota's English/Language Arts Content Standards for Grade 4 Students gather and organize information effectively through reading, writing, listening, and speaking. They achieve the benchmarks if they: Understand the story elements, e.g., character, setting, conflict, plot, theme. Understand the main idea and supporting details. Use context clues to determine the meaning of words, e.g., root words, prefixes, suffixes, compound words, affixes, multiple meanings, key words, antonyms, synonyms, word families, syntax clues, semantic clues, context clues. Use simple organizational structures, e.g., lists, introduction, body, conclusions. Use simple reference tools, e.g., glossary, dictionary, globe, encyclopedia. Use vocabulary knowledge to gather information. Understand verbal and non-verbal cues. Use speaking and listening to enhance comprehension, e.g., conversations, interviews, collaborative groups, taking turns. Understand that creating mental pictures helps increase understanding, e.g., poetic images, figurative language.

Alignment of all educational components. Challenging standards are much more likely to be met if the other important elements of teaching and learning--including assessments, instructional materials, and professional development--are aligned with the standards. Some States have explicit standards and curricula that are not well coordinated with other aspects of their educational system. For example, if State assessments are not tied to standards, then teachers have incentive to teach the content tested rather than the content embraced in the standards. The new ESEA encourages alignment of all major components affecting teaching and learning.

• As envisioned under the new law, challenging academic standards serve as the focal point for improving curriculum, instruction, professional development, school leadership, student assessment, parental involvement, and other key aspects of education.

• ESEA assessment and accountability are integrated with general State standards-based reforms. Assessment will focus on what matters--what students need to know and be able to do--rather than on what students across the country knew several years ago when norms were developed for the standardized tests in use today.

• Professional development opportunities in the new Eisenhower Title II program and other federal programs center on preparing educators to help all children meet challenging State standards in core academic subjects.

Baltimore County, MD: Aligning Professional Development with High Standards With a Goals 2000 grant and involvement of Towson State University, Baltimore County public schools are using school-based professional development to better prepare current and prospective teachers to help students reach State content and performance standards. At planning institutes in 1995, classroom teachers, university faculty, and principals developed strategies to reshape three district schools as "professional development schools," in which preservice teachers, inservice teachers, and teacher educators work, learn, and confer together to improve instruction and raise student achievement. All 100-plus teachers in the three schools are encouraged to participate in standards-based professional development, with the ultimate aim of spreading the professional development school model to other district sites and embedding it into preservice training for all Maryland teacher education candidates. In Baltimore County, professional development has addressed such topics as high expectations, State performance assessments, effective reading instruction, mathematics content standards, and teaching for at-risk students. To promote best practices, teachers also observe other classrooms and engage in dialogue with outstanding teachers and university faculty.

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[II. Improving Teaching and Learning with ESEA Resources]

[Theme 2. A Focus on Teaching and Learning]