Officials Consider National Standard

WASHINGTON – The No Child Left Behind law was supposed to level the playing field, promising students an equal education no matter where they live or their background.

From state to state, however, huge differences remain in what students are expected to know and learn.

Each state sets its own standards for subjects such as reading and math, then tests to see whether students meet those benchmarks. It’s a practice under increasing scrutiny as Congress prepares to review the 5-year-old law.

“Fourth-grade kids in the District of Columbia are learning different math from kids across the (Potomac) river in Virginia. It’s crazy. Math is math,” said Michael Petrilli, the vice president for policy at the Thomas Fordham Foundation, a Washington- based education reform group.

The solution, say Mr. Petrilli and other advocates, means standards of learning that are uniform nationwide.

Republicans generally have opposed national standards. GOP lawmakers say state and local officials know what is best for their students and as the primary source of funding of elementary and secondary education, should have primary say in running schools.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has opposed national standards but recently indicated she would consider voluntary ones.

Ms. Spellings said she would have strong reservations, however, about proposals that would free states from the No Child Left Behind law’s requirements as a reward for raising standards.

Many Democrats, along with education reform and business groups, say a patchwork of standards is inefficient.

They also say students in states with low standards will have trouble competing in the global economy.

Many other industrial nations have more stringent standards than those in the U.S.

Advocates of national standards say the No Child Left Behind law is encouraging states to set low standards so schools can avoid consequences that come with missing annual progress goals.

Schools that miss those targets must take steps such as paying for tutoring or overhauling staffs. All students have to be proficient, which generally means working at grade level, in reading and math by 2014.

Supporters of national standards point to the vast differences between student performance on state tests compared with a rigorous national one as evidence states are using weak standards.

(c) 2007 Augusta Chronicle, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.