Achieve Provides Indiana With 'Honest, Tough' Review

By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo

Indiana's academic standards are clear, concise, jargon-free, and generally well-aligned with the state's assessments, an independent review has found. But the guidelines for what students should learn in each grade have a low level of rigor compared with those of some other states, content is repeated across and within grades, and the tests are not as challenging as they should be, the analysis concludes.

The evaluation of the state's English/language arts and mathematics programs by the nonprofit organization Achieve Inc. is highly critical in many respects. It suggests that Indiana needs to make significant revisions if its state benchmarks are to meet world-class standards.

Still, Indiana officials said the review provides the kind of constructive feedback they need as they prepare to...