I find myself wondering how the presence of standards might affect things like state and district curriculum frameworks. But it's an open question right now. They argued that high-stakes exams, linked to national standards, would create the leverage for change faster than anything else. Most people realize now that this kind of system wouldn't work. You can put the high-stakes exam out there, but no matter how much the assessment and accountability system push people to change, all you're doing is cracking the whip harder.
People still have to find the resources to change.
There's a growing realization that it's the improvement process that matters. We've got to figure out viable ways for schools to become better and how to get many more teachers and schools involved in improvement. I think the states have to start collaborating with the teacher education institutions, the school districts, and the schools to figure out how to start the process and make improvement resources available. At least we're concentrating on that part of the problem now, whereas a few years ago people were more concerned with high-stakes accountability. There was a sort of fantasy that by having these high stakes, the system would somehow marshal the resources to change when pressure was placed on it.