Deciding on 'Essential Knowledge'

By Robert J. Marzano

The promulgation of standards by groups of subject-area specialists who influence what is taught in virtually every classroom raises an interesting new question for American education: How long would it take for a student to acquire the knowledge that is defined as essential?

The answer, according to new research by the Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory, is that a high school diploma would require as much classroom time as has historically resulted in a master's or professional degree. Even the brightest students would need nine additional years of schooling to master the nearly 4,000 benchmarks experts have set in 14 subject areas. Subject-matter specialists and policymakers who have sought to clarify what students should learn have not considered the curriculum as a whole. The net result is a curriculum that is overwhelming to teachers and students.

The education community's efforts to bring coherence into the various content areas has led to unintended consequences that teachers and students must address every day. Beyond the fact that most schools lack curriculum materials to help implement the standards and have only begun to link them to assessments, the sheer volume of the standards is so overwhelming as to be virtually impossible to implement. There are far too many standards and not enough time in the day or year...