Comments on: Laws, Sausages, and National Standards http://blog.coreknowledge.org/2009/06/09/laws-sausages-and-national-standards/ Closing the Achievement Gap: Teaching Content Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:59:33 -0600 hourly 1 By: Rachel http://blog.coreknowledge.org/2009/06/09/laws-sausages-and-national-standards/comment-page-1/#comment-7001 Rachel Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:31:38 +0000 http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/?p=2800#comment-7001 If the hope is to come up with standards say (for example) all 8th graders should read "To Kill a Mockingbird" and all 9th graders should read "Inherit the Wind" it's going to be an exercise in futility. However, I don't think its unrealistic to develop guidelines about what the scope of a high school English class looks like with a more-inclusive-than-not list of suggested books. There's no shortage of knowledge (and even skills) that it would be great for students to have acquired before they leave high school. It would be a mistake for these committee to be sweating the detail (Is Romeo and Juliet appropriate for 9th graders? Is West Side Story? Is the answer different depending on what role gang violence plays in a student's community?). What they need to be doing is working at the level of "We expect student that a student finishing high school has read X of these Y Shakespeare plays." If the hope is to come up with standards say (for example) all 8th graders should read “To Kill a Mockingbird” and all 9th graders should read “Inherit the Wind” it’s going to be an exercise in futility.

However, I don’t think its unrealistic to develop guidelines about what the scope of a high school English class looks like with a more-inclusive-than-not list of suggested books.

There’s no shortage of knowledge (and even skills) that it would be great for students to have acquired before they leave high school. It would be a mistake for these committee to be sweating the detail (Is Romeo and Juliet appropriate for 9th graders? Is West Side Story? Is the answer different depending on what role gang violence plays in a student’s community?). What they need to be doing is working at the level of “We expect student that a student finishing high school has read X of these Y Shakespeare plays.”

]]> By: Nathan http://blog.coreknowledge.org/2009/06/09/laws-sausages-and-national-standards/comment-page-1/#comment-7000 Nathan Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:02:40 +0000 http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/?p=2800#comment-7000 "“But when everyone gets into the sausage-making that characterizes policy formulation, it generally becomes clear that no one is going to get what they want out of national standards." Historically speaking, this was probably true when there was a move to state standards as well, right? Of course back then, the "culture wars" weren't so flamable... -Nathan ““But when everyone gets into the sausage-making that characterizes policy formulation, it generally becomes clear that no one is going to get what they want out of national standards.”

Historically speaking, this was probably true when there was a move to state standards as well, right? Of course back then, the “culture wars” weren’t so flamable…

-Nathan

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