Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan penned a strong argument today for increasing academic standards in a Washington Post Op Ed entitled, "Telling the truth on achievement gaps improves education."
Secretary Duncan warned that while PISA and NAEP scores showed modest progress for U.S. students, particularly for 4th and 8th graders, we cannot be satisfied with these results. Other nations are posting substantially higher educational gains and surpassing the U.S.
Not all of the news was concerning, however. Secretary Duncan highlighted Tennessee and the District of Columbia for having stand out achievement in the U.S. A large contributing factor, according to Secretary Duncan, for Tennessee and DC's success is their politically challenging decision to increase rigor in their educational standards.
From the Op Ed:
"There are important lessons here. What these two places also had in common was a succession of leaders who told educators, parents and the public the truth about educational underperformance and who worked closely with educators to bring about real changes. They pushed hard to raise expectations for students, even though a lower bar would have made everyone look better. And they remained committed to doing the right thing for children, even when it meant crossing partisan lines or challenging ideological orthodoxy.
To meet those higher standards, these leaders invested in strengthening the quality of classroom instruction and revamping systems for teacher support and evaluation. They ensured that teachers could use good data from multiple sources to identify learning gaps and improve instruction. They also sought ongoing feedback from educators and others."
To access the article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/arne-duncan-better-education-sta…