Here to stay
Standards-based reform is not just another fad--
it's alive, well and living in the classroom.

You might think that staff in schools designated as low-performing would balk at the thought of standards-based reform. You might think that, after working for a few years with reforms that challenge students to meet high academic standards, teachers might cool to the concept. Or that high academic standards would enjoy little support from teachers faced with the enormous challenges of working in disadvantaged urban schools.

You'd be wrong on all counts.

A new poll of AFT K-12 teachers nationwide, commissioned by the nonprofit Albert Shanker Institute, provides evidence of commitment from teachers and principals to the new, demanding standards-based reform agenda. It also offers some surprising insights about how educators at the front lines really view these initiatives. The Peter D. Hart Research Associates survey included responses from a representative national sample of 1,075 K-12 teachers who are AFT members. Also surveyed were more than 800 principals in four states to get an administrator's-eye view of standards-based reform, defined in both polls as an approach to education that, for any given school, "may mean new academic standards, changes in curriculum, regular state or district testing of students based on the standards, and accountability measures with consequences for students, faculty and/or the school as a whole."

The polls reveal that, despite greater demands being placed on them, teachers and principals strongly back efforts to hold students to rigorous academic standards and see beneficial changes in their schools thanks to standards-based reform.

"If districts are willing to work hand-in-hand, if they are willing to meet the essential needs of schools and staff, then we can get students to meet high academic standards," says Elka Ford, a fifth-grade teacher at Hartford's Henry C. Dwight Elementary, which recently came off the state's list of low-performing schools. All education stakeholders--staff, administrators, parents, students and policy makers--"need to come to the table and be honest about what they're doing and what they're not doing."

Among the polls' major findings:

• Nearly three out of four teachers favored raising standards to improve student achievement. Even teachers in schools deemed low performing (about a third of the sample) back standards in numbers similar to those found in the profession generally.
• The longer teachers work with the standards agenda, the better they like it. Almost three-quarters of teachers who worked with standards for at least six years say these efforts have had a positive impact on their school, compared to 62 percent of the teachers who had used standards for less time.
• Even in the poorest schools, teachers' support for standards-based reform is strong. Two-thirds of teachers whose students come from working/lower middle-class backgrounds, and 62 percent of teachers serving poor students, say the effect of standards has been either very or somewhat positive.
• Educators believe that standards-based reform is making a difference in their schools. More than two-thirds of teachers say standards have changed the way education is carried out at their school a "great deal" or a "fair amount," and more than two-thirds of teachers say this change is for the better. Only 8 percent say that very little has changed.

"The polls show that the standards movement has enlisted the support of teachers and principals in all kinds of schools, even those with the biggest problems," said AFT president Sandra Feldman. "It's encouraging to see that they are out there trying to meet the challenge these new demands set for them," she said.

Areas for improvement

Teachers surveyed were also adamant about steps that could be taken to make standards-based reform more effective. In fact, about seven out of 10 teachers, and two-thirds of principals, say states and schools need to improve the way they implement standards.

Some 36 percent of teachers say that standards are being implemented too quickly. And even educators supportive of high standards express concern that tests tied to those standards remain too narrowly focused and require preparation that diverts student attention from mastering rich academic content.

Time is also a problem. One poll shows that nearly two-thirds of teachers are "just somewhat" or "not that satisfied" about having enough time to meet all their professional responsibilities. Four in five favor more paid professional development time to meet with other faculty members to discuss curriculum, lessons, tests and how to best help students, even when this means lengthening the school day or school year.

"These teachers want more time for the kind of rich professional development that comes from sharing knowledge and expertise with colleagues," says Eugenia Kemble, executive director of the Shanker Institute.

The polls also asked educators which other reforms would be most effective in addition to standards. Most frequently named were smaller class size (88 percent of teachers), a clear discipline policy (83 percent), reading programs (82 percent), a curriculum aligned with standards (70 percent) and better teacher salaries (64 percent).

The poll signaled that curricula alignment is a key condition of effective standards-based reform: Among teachers who report their schools have closely aligned curricula and standards, almost three-quarters say standards have had a positive effect; among teachers who indicate that alignment is missing, only 56 percent report that standards have yielded a positive effect.

As a teacher, "I need to know what my students are going to be assessed on--what do my students need to learn in second grade that will make them successful on the fourth- and eighth-grade test," says Paula Drake, a first vice president of the AFT's Syracuse local and faculty member in the school of education at the State University of New York at Cortland.

American Federation of Teachers, AFL•CIO - 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW - Washington, DC 20001