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Reality Check 2002
Since 1998, Public Agenda has conducted annual surveys in association with Education Week to find out whether the school standards movement is making headway, based on the perceptions of those who would know best -- the people who would be living through any change. The surveys, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the GE Fund, ask students, teachers and parents about what's happening in their own schools, and they ask employers and professors for their perceptions about the skills of young people.
In the fifth year of the Reality Check project, and despite some headlines trumpeting a "backlash to testing," Reality Check shows strong agreement on the useful role standardized tests can play, and a broad consensus on how they should be used.
The drive to raise academic standards in public schools has enjoyed broad political backing, with all 50 states employing testing to some degree to determine what students are learning. A key component of President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" Act, signed in January, requires states to phase in statewide annual testing in reading and mathematics for grades 3 through 8 by the 2005-06 school year.
According to Reality Check 2002, the standards movement continues to attract widespread support among teachers and parents, and public school students nationwide appear to be adjusting comfortably to the new status quo.
Most students say they can handle the testing, and while a strong majority of teachers, parents, professors and employers say they're worried about "teaching to the test," only one-quarter of teachers say they're actually doing it. All groups endorse standardized testing in some form, with one major caveat: majorities in all groups agree that a student's graduation or promotion should not hang on one test. The groups surveyed report tangible change in other ways. Teachers report that summer school attendance is up, and social promotion is down.
But this year's surveys also contain some less welcome news for standards proponents. Based on reports from teachers, parents and students, the impact of higher academic standards on promotion and graduation policies has been mixed. Few teachers report that schools have been either rewarded or sanctioned based on student performance. Employers and professors also continue to voice considerable dissatisfaction with high school graduates' basic skills.
In this progress report, we lay out the chief findings from the fifth annual Reality Check survey. Complete results for all surveys from 1998 through 2002 will be available from Public Agenda in a technical report to be released later this year. In the meantime, all four previous Reality Check surveys are available online.
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Finding One:
Even as students nationwide face more testing and higher hurdles for promotion and graduation, very few seem apprehensive about school or unnerved by what is currently being asked of them.
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Finding Two:
Even as standards are being raised nationwide, many students say they could work harder in school, and many say classmates often get diplomas without having learned what was expected.
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Finding Three:
Broad agreement exists that local schools are moving in the right direction on standards, and that testing has genuine benefits. No evidence points to a broad backlash against higher academic standards among any of the groups surveyed.
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Finding Four:
Higher academic standards are taking root, and teachers and parents report notable changes in policies on testing, promotion, and summer school. Even so, some reforms sought by standards advocates remain more discussed than acted on.
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Finding Five:
Employers and professors still say that too many of today's high school graduates lack basic skills, although both groups continue to give young people high marks on computer skills.
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