Standards provide high expectations for all students and teachers.
Content and performance standards ensure that all students are held to the same benchmarks of quality regardless of the neighborhood school they attend or the teacher to whom they are assigned. Like schools in all communities, urban schools must be held to high standards. The community must have a role in their development and implementation, and urban schools and districts must have the resources and offer the opportunities to learn so that students can meet the standards. A key role for standards is to have an ameliorative effect on the overall quality of instruction. Powerful learning experiences have much in common.