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By Tom Scarritt A high school diploma ought to mean something. Colleges and employers should have some common expectations of all high school graduates, wherever they may have gone to school. That is why a new proposal, backed by the nation's governors and top state school officials, for national standards in math and English deserves careful consideration. In those key areas, we should have a common understanding of what a high school education means. Alabama school officials are generally supportive of the idea. "Our nation's schools will ultimately be better because of this effort," said Joe Morton, state superintendent of education. For the endeavor to succeed, though, school officials will have to draw a clear distinction between the standards we hope to reach and the methods by which we reach them. National standards are important, but local school systems must have the autonomy to find the best ways to meet those standards. Efforts to adopt some national standards for public education have continued from proposals by Thomas Jefferson through No Child Left Behind, and they have always been controversial. What we have found in Alabama, though, is when the bar is raised, students benefit. What we measure, we can improve. And it makes sense to use the same measurements that the rest of the nation uses. This latest effort, coordinated by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief School Officers, has been driven by the states, not the federal government. However, President Barack Obama has told governors he wants to make money from the biggest federal school aid program contingent on reading and math standards. That makes some educators, and some parents, nervous. Paul Hubbert, executive secretary of the Alabama Education Association, warned that a national curriculum usually leads to national control. "We've always valued local control," he said. The Texas commissioner of education, Robert Scott, explained why his state has opted out of the process. "It is clear that the first step toward nationalization of our schools has been put into place," he wrote. We can have consistency, though, without giving up control. As Morton said, a key driver of this push for standards is the desire to make U.S. high school students competitive in the global economy. For that to happen, we must have some agreement about what a high school education means. Finding the most appropriate way to meet agreed-upon standards, though, should remain the responsibility of state and local school officials. Achieving the right balance between national standards and local control may be tricky, but it is vital. This is, as Jefferson County Schools Superintendent Phil Hammonds said, a "healthy conversation" for our nation to undertake. |
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