States' Grades Inch Upward On Content Standards

By David J. Hoff

Washington

The quality of states' academic-content standards is improving, but still isn't good enough, according to a group that regularly grades what states say students should know in core subjects.

"The results ... indicate modest progress in the quality of state standards," Chester E. Finn Jr., the president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, said at a press conference held here last week to release the new grades. "We've got a heck of a lot of work to do before the country has standards worth attaining."

Fordham gave the states a C-minus average after its experts reviewed the materials provided by state officials. That's up from a D-plus the Washington-based research organization conferred on the states in 1998. Iowa, which does not have state standards, did...