Implementing High Standards

By Paul Kelleher

In a superintendent's world, opportunities to integrate emerging educational theory into our practical work do not often occur. At conferences and through the professional literature, we may be exposed to new research and expert thinking about the issues we face. But we have little time for sustained dialogue and reflection with colleagues about this new learning. Typically, when we return to our districts, we quickly become immersed, once again, in the day-to-day problems of running a complex organization, with little time to consider the practical implications of what we have learned.

I write on behalf of a diverse group of superintendents serving a cross-section of school districts—large and small, urban, rural, suburban. We had a unique experience for a week last summer, when we came together in New York City at the Superintendents' Work Conference, a program sponsored by Teachers College, Columbia University. Our theme was the standards movement, and we heard from many nationally recognized experts. But we also met daily as a small group to reflect on what we had heard and to share our own experiences in implementing new standards. We would like to share with others the fruits of those discussions, areas in which we found consensus.

Although we have concerns about the implementation of standards nationwide, especially when linked to high-stakes testing, we think the standards movement can increase academic rigor in our schools, strengthen the high-level thinking demanded in our curricula, and provide more opportunities for the active use...