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##  "World-Class Standards" and Local Pedagogies: Can We Do Both? ERIC              Digest.                                                                      

A growing movement to ground school curriculum and instruction in               local geography, ecology, culture, economy, and history--often                  referred to as "place-based" education--is capturing the attention              of many rural educators across the country. Some see this approach              as a way to address the decline of many rural communities, including            the out-migration of young people, by preparing students to live                productive and fully engaged lives in their home communities.                   However, this view of education seems to put its proponents in                  conflict with the national movement to adopt academic standards and             accountability measures. This Digest compares and contrasts the                 underlying commitments and practical implications of standards-based            versus place-based education reform. THE ACCOUNTABILITY                       MOVEMENTOver the past ten years, nearly every state in the                  United States has introduced a set of accountability standards,                 often accompanied by mandatory tests of student achievement. State              standards aim to represent the common core of knowledge that all                citizens ought to possess. The legislators who put forward the                  standards maintain that these lists of valued educational outcomes              enable the public to monitor how well schools perform. 
With                   increasing support from local community members, however, some                  educators question the value of precisely defined standards. These              educators worry that state standards erode local control over                   education, thereby limiting the important connection between                    communities and their schools (Rural Challenge, 1999). Moreover,                they argue that state standards require schools to adopt curricula              and teaching methods that construe learning too narrowly, severing              crucial linkages between students' lived experiences and rigorous               academic content (see e.g., Eisner, 1995). For these commentators,              education is all about making meaning, which necessarily involves               intellectual processes of greater sophistication than those                     typically assessed by state-mandated tests. 
Despite these                     assertions, many policymakers continue to maintain that "all" public            schools need to prepare students to become workers in an                        increasingly complicated global economy. Schools, according to this             view, have an obligation to assure that all students master the                 skills necessary to perform the high-level tasks required in the                twenty-first century workplace. From the vantage of these                       policymakers, state-level standards assure that schools--no matter              where they are located--produce graduates who can compete in                    national and even global markets. Attentiveness to the global                   marketplace is, in fact, the reason why policymakers heighten the               rhetoric about state standards by referring to them                             as "world-class." 
Place-based pedagogy, "world-class"                         standards--are they mutually exclusive? Or is it possible to balance            the requirements of a curriculum focused on global economic                     competitiveness with educational values rooted in local commitments             and practices? PEDAGOGY FOR A GLOBAL ECONOMYDuring the period             following World War II, advances in the technologies of                         communication and transportation worked together to make the nations            of the world more interdependent. Following the breakup of once                 powerful colonial empires, new countries established governments                favorable to international trade (Kniep, 1986). As a result, various            non-government groups (e.g., manufacturing and media corporations               and volunteer organizations) began to assume some of the diplomatic             functions previously reserved for governments. In powerful countries            like the United States, the imperatives of the global marketplace               increasingly came to influence thinking about how to prepare the                nation and its citizens for the complex demands of an                           interdependent, yet increasingly competitive economy (Rosenau,                  1983). As had been the case in the past, policymakers saw schools as            the logical vehicle for purveying this national agenda. 
Among the             first to respond to this agenda were organizations representing the             concerns of professional educators. As early as 1979 the National               Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) introduced revised curricular             guidelines directed toward preparing students for jobs in a global              economy. Efforts along these lines intensified as reports such as "A            Nation At Risk" brought questions about the quality of the nation's             schools to the headlines of popular news media. In response to                  charges that schools were not adequately preparing competitive                  workers, states began to enact accountability                                   legislation. 
Although states acted independently, their approach              followed a common pattern. Committees of legislators, business                  people, and educators convened to discuss what students, upon                   graduation from high school, ought to know and be able to do. Using             graduation standards as the new benchmarks, these committees                    developed education outcomes for children at all developmental                  levels. With outcomes in place, state education agencies then                   developed or adopted, and ultimately mandated, competency tests                 measuring students' knowledge and skills. These tests provided the              basis for gauging the success of school districts, local schools,               classroom teachers, and individual students. 
The effect of                    accountability legislation has been to create--through the                      mechanisms of common educational standards and competency-based                 testing--uniformity in the school programs that students                        experience (Ohanian, 1999). In an effort to comply with                         accountability legislation, schools and districts align their                   curricula with state-adopted standards or with the published                    objectives of competency tests. Some observers have found that                  curriculum alignment tends to narrow the focus of academic programs             and to reinforce traditional methods of direct instruction,                     particularly in low-income districts (Firestone, Camilli, Yurecko,              Monfils, & Mayrowetz, 2000). PEDAGOGY FOR LOCAL                               CITIZENSHIPAlthough advocates of place-based pedagogy sometimes             challenge tightly focused education standards, they do not oppose a             chief aim of the standards movement: providing a high quality                   education for all students. Arguing that education ought to be                  responsive to local needs, these educators typically argue that one             set of standards cannot be used universally to guide education                  practice. This position is succinctly expressed in the policy                   statement of the Rural School and Community Trust: ...strong local              communities are the best habitat for excellence in education. From              our perspective, every community is a richly detailed place able to             provide a laboratory for learning, children are young citizens whose            work in school should serve to improve their community, and                     education is the responsibility of the whole community, not only of             professional educators. (2000, p. 1) 
According to advocates of                place-based pedagogy, local schools should be free to design and                offer curricula that reflect and enhance the lifeways of the                    children they serve. By connecting academic content to the                      real-world experiences of students, schools increase the chances                that all children will derive meaning from their studies. The goal              is not to limit students to a small core of knowledge, but instead              to root a broadly focused curriculum in the day-to-day lives of a               community's children. 
Construed in this way, place-based pedagogy             draws upon a progressive tradition in American education that                   emphasizes authentic learning, integrated curriculum, and practical             problem solving. And supporters of this view are among the most                 vocal critics of standards-based reform (see e.g., Apple, 1996;                 Giroux, 1999; Ohanian, 1999). EASING THE TENSION BETWEEN                      WORLD-CLASS STANDARDS AND LOCAL PEDAGOGIESAdvocates of                      place-based education differ markedly from advocates                            of "world-class" standards in the ways they construe the purposes               and methods of education. The chart below shows some of the major               differences between the two positions. 
Despite important                      differences between the two approaches, practical circumstances                 often require educators to bridge the gap. In many states, for                  example, schools and districts are penalized for failing to comply              with standards-based reform (Rural School and Community Trust,                  1999). Defenders of local pedagogies often find it necessary to                 justify their approach by showing how well their curricula match the            standards mandated by the state (Null, 2000). Moreover, some                    educators have demonstrated that, when local communities define                 education standards for themselves, they develop valued outcomes                similar to those specified in state standards (Hoffman & Swidler,               2000). 
Even when place-based pedagogies do not explicitly attend              to the requirements of adopted standards, they can offer students               meaningful and rigorous engagement with academic content. Two model             programs illustrate the potential academic focus of locally                     responsive curricula. 
Perhaps the best known approach to                      place-based education, the Foxfire program, had its origins in Rabun            County, Georgia, in the early 1970's. Broadly emphasizing the                   humanities, Foxfire projects engaged students in the work                       of "cultural journalism": interviewing community members to                     reconstruct history; gathering information about traditional                    cultural practices; and sharing knowledge about local lifeways                  through the publication of articles, journals, and books. More                  recent elaboration's of the Foxfire approach combine integrated                 academic instruction with service learning. The Alabama-based                   Program for the Academic and Cultural Enhancement of Rural                      Schools (PACERS), for example, sponsors a variety of curriculum                 projects focused on community needs: agriculture projects that                  incorporate science content, school improvement projects that teach             concepts in electronics, and journalism projects that promote                   communication in small, rural enclaves (Starnes, 2000). 
The Rural             School and Community Trust also sponsors programs that build                    challenging academic work into locally responsive curricula. One                example is the Yampa Valley Legacy Education Initiative, which                  supports a variety of curriculum projects within a five-district                region of Colorado. Interestingly, many of these curriculum projects            establish credibility by demonstrating their alignment with                     Colorado's content standards. 
See table at end of Digest. 
High              school students from Yampa Valley were recently involved in a                   community planning project to assist the Colorado Division of                   Wildlife and the State Wildlife Commission in determining the best              use of a new 400-acre site near the Yampa River. As the basis for               their plan, students collected field data and used Global                       Positioning System software to create area maps. Their investigation            involved a study of riverbed erosion, wildlife management, and river            ecology. 
As these examples suggest, place-based pedagogy "can"                establish a practical alliance with mandated standards. But some                observers question whether such linkages truly enhance the                      educational value of local projects. Local educators simply may be              doing what is necessary to explain innovative curriculum work to                responsible state authorities. In an environment in which school                aims are strictly tied to instrumental purposes, such as improving              worker productivity or increasing global competitiveness,                       place-based pedagogy, like other progressive approaches, may not                fare well. Where education is construed broadly, however, as a means            to connect students to larger purposes--personal development,                   ethical decision making, committed participation in civic                       life--progressive approaches such as place-based pedagogy are better            able to flourish. 
Hopefully ways can be found to meet both                    compelling needs: to hold schools accountable for providing a high              quality education to all students and to find locally sensible ways             to provide an education that is supportive of community                         environmental, economic, and civic needs. REFERENCESApple,                M. (1996). Being popular about national standards: A Review                     of "National Standards in American Education: A Citizen's Guide."               Educational Policy Analysis Archives, 4(10), 1-6. On-line journal               available at http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v4n10.html 
Eisner,                      E.W. (1995). Standards for American schools: Help or hindrance? Phi             Delta Kappan, 76(10), 758-760,762-764. 
Firestone, W., Camilli, G.,            Yurecko, M., Monfils, L., & Mayrowetz, D. (2000). State standards,              socio-fiscal context and opportunity to learn in New Jersey.                    Educational Policy Analysis Archives, 8(35). On-line journal                    available at http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v8n35 
Giroux, H. (1999).                Corporate culture and the attack on higher education and public                 schooling. (Phi Delta Kappa Fastback 442). Bloomington, IN: Phi                 Delta Kappa International. 
Hoffman, J., & Swidler, S. (2000,                  April). The "place" of standards-based reform in rural school. Paper            presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research            Association, New Orleans, LA. 
Kniep, W. (1986). Defining a global             education by its content. Social Education, 50(6), 437-446. 
Null,             E. (2000). Yampa Valley legacy education initiative launches third              year of place-based education. Colorado: Author. Available on-line              at http://www.ruralchallengepolicy.org/project_month.html 
Ohanian,            S. (1999). One size fits few: The folly of educational standards.               Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. 
Rosenau, J. (1983). Teaching and                   learning in a transnational world. Educational Research Quarterly,              8(1), 29-35. 
Rural Challenge. (1999). Public school standards:                Discussing the case for community control. A Report on the                      electronic symposium, "Public School Standards: Discussing the Case             for Community Control," hosted by the Rural Challenge, Burlington,              VT, November 1998-February 1999. Granby, CO: Author. Available                  on-line at                                                                      http://www.ruralchallengepolicy.org/esymposium/esymposium2.html.                (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. 435 508) 
Rural School and             Community Trust. (1999). The use and misuse of test scores.                     Burlington, VT: Author. Retrieved November 20, 2000 from the World              Wide Web: http://www.ruralchallengepolicy.org/policy.html 
Rural               School and Community Trust. (2000). Standards in public schools: A              policy statement of the Rural School and Community Trust.                       Burlington, VT: Author. Retrieved November 10, 2000 from the World              Wide Web: http://www.ruralchallengepolicy.org/policy.html 
Starnes,            B. (2000). A life connected to community: An interview with Jack                Shelton. The Active Learner: A Foxfire Journal for Teachers, 5(1),              24-29. 
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Tom Gibbs is an instructor in the Department of                Educational Studies at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. 
Aimee                 Howley is professor and department chair in the Educational Studies             Department at Ohio University. 
This publication was prepared with             funding from the Office of Educational Research and Improvement,                U.S. Department of Education, under contract no. ED-99-CO-0027. The             opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the positions              or policies of OERI, the Department, or                                         AEL.    
TABLE=====================================|    Aims of          |     Educational   |      Curriculum|   Education  |   Governance    |----------------------------------------------------------Place-Based | Preparing citizens, | Local control | Integrated, practical,Education | promoting community | | broad in scope but| interests | | restricted in coverage----------------------------------------------------------Standards- | Preparing workers, | State control | Discipline based,Based | promoting national | | abstract, narrow inEducation | interests | | scope but comprehensive| | | in coverage----------------------------------------------------------**Title:** "World-Class Standards" and Local Pedagogies: Can We Do Both? ERIC              Digest.                                                                      **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC/CRESS, P.O. Box 1348, Charleston, WV 25325-1348; Tel:                      800-624-9120 (Toll Free). Full text at Web site:                                http://www.ael.org/eric/digests/edorc008.htm.                                **Descriptors:**  Academic Standards,  Accountability, Educational Change,                       Educational Policy, Elementary Secondary Education,  Global                     Approach, National Standards,  Role of Education, Rural Education,               State Standards                                                             **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests,  Place Based Education,  Standardization                       
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