RAISING THE BAR: STANDARDS AND SCHOOL REFORM

Standards-based school reform is catching on across the nation. The impact of this type of reform remains controversial. Many educators, parents, and civil rights groups are skeptical about standardizing curricula and question the use of test scores to determine whether students should be promoted to the next grade or graduate from high school. On this edition of The Merrow Report, John Merrow talks with Alfie Kohn, author of The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and 'Tougher Standards' and Robert Schwartz, President of Achieve, Inc. Is standards-driven reform helping or hurting our schools?

recorded 10/12/99

	ARTICLES Education Week: "For First Time, Educators Play Prominent Role at National Summit," Lynn Olson, 10/6/99. "Teaching Tops Agenda At Summit," Lynn Olson and David J. Hoff, 10/6/99. "Standards at Crossroads," David J. Hoff, 9/22/99. "Summit Accord Calls for Focus on Standards," Millicent Lawton, 4/3/96. "Year Later, Progress Since Summit Questioned," Millicent Lawton, 4/3/96. The New York Times: "Educators Focus on 'Pain' of Standards," Jacques Steinberg, 9/30/99. "Clinton Urges Tough Love for Students Who Are Failing," Jacques Steinberg, 10/1/99. "Education Summit Ends in Optimism," Jacques Steinberg, 10/2/99. Newsweek: "The Truth About Testing," Daniel McGinn, 9/6/99. WEB SITES Education Week National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) Council for Basic Education