State Reading Standards
Uploaded by cooksterj on Oct 26, 2011
This paper examines the current situation with regard to reading standards being set at state levels. (10.5 pages; 3 sources; MLA citation style.
I Introduction
There has been a great deal of dismay in general over the poor academic performance of American students when compared to their counterparts in other countries. One of the areas in which U.S. students fall behind is reading comprehension. There are many theories as to why our students are performing badly, including the idea that students concentrate on the present and have no thought for the future; that they don’t understand why academic accomplishment is important; or that they lack motivation. Overall, it seems that standards and expectations have declined, and student performance has declined with them. In order to try to help students perform better, standards were introduced. In fact, there have been standards set for academic performance for decades.
This paper will consider the various aspects of state standards for reading comprehension, including whether or not they have resulted in improved performance.
II Why Set State Standards?
The first question that arises when we consider state standards for reading is why such standards should be set at the state level in the first place. Why shouldn’t that be left to the school, or even an individual teacher, rather than an organization as broad and diverse as a state?
According to an interesting article on the ERIC website, the reason for setting standards for reading, or for setting standards in general for that matter, “resulted from a perception among some segments of the public that the level of scholastic achievement among public school students left much room for improvement.” (PG). Of course there have been articles and studies about declining educational accomplishment in the United States, and they have been sufficiently alarming that improving the educational system has become a national priority. (Every president makes education part of his platform, with varying degrees of commitment and success.)
This concern led to a federal effort that began in the 1980’s to create voluntary national standards for many different subjects. At this same time, a “joint project of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the International Reading Association (IRA) was also undertaken, leading eventually to the issuance of a set of voluntary national guidelines.” (Gottleib, PG).
As we might imagine, the idea of “voluntary” standards” is somewhat problematic....