Worries of a Standards 'Backlash' Grow

By Lynn Olson

It sounded fine in theory: Set high standards for what students should know and be able to do. Give teachers and students the resources and help they need to reach the standards. Use tests to measure whether the goals are being met, and encourage results by rewarding success and penalizing failure.

But as "standards-based reform" plays out around the country, its uneven and sometimes careless implementation has led even some of its main proponents to worry about the gap between theory and practice.

"At this point, it would be hard to say I can identify a place that's got it right, because there are so many ways to do it wrong," said Diane Ravitch, a senior research scholar at New York University and a former assistant...