High Standards Without Big Lawsuits
The development of academic standards, an important step toward raising student achievement, could open up states to lawsuits from groups of students struggling to meet the standards or from districts with large numbers of such students. States are especially at risk of a lawsuit if they hold students and districts accountable for meeting the standards--by, for example, preventing low-achieving students from graduating or taking over low-performing districts--without allocating resources adequately or equitably. Although the threat of a lawsuit should not deter states from developing rigorous standards and tough but fair accountability systems, it should serve as a warning to states to examine closely their educational finance systems within the context of their standards and accountability systems.
Academic standards--specific statements
about what all students should know and be able to do at certain points
in their educational careers--are the states' definition of a
high-quality education. All but one of the states have developed or are
developing standards because they provide four substantial benefits.
First, standards set clear, high expectations for student achievement.
Second, they provide a basis to hold students, educators, schools, and
districts accountable. Third, standards promote educational equity by
demanding that all students achieve at high levels. Finally, standards
help guide efforts to measure student achievement, improve teacher
training, develop more effective curricula and instructional
strategies, and design school systems most conducive to learning.
Despite these benefits, however, standards present two problems to state policymakers. First, many students will not meet the standards, at least initially. When Oregon first rolled out its academic standards, for example, only 25 percent of 10th graders met the mathematics standards, and only 40 percent met the reading standards. What should Oregon and other states do with the large...
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