Standards for Our Schools: How to Set Them, Measure Them, and Reach Them [Hardcover]

Marc S. Tucker (Author), Judy B. Codding (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0787938947 | ISBN-13: 978-0787938949 | Publication Date: January 23, 1998 | Edition: 1

"A must read for those seeking high standards for all students. With unusual insight, the authors address the major issues, offering inspirational examples of schools that succeed." --Jerome T. Murphy, professor and dean, Harvard Graduate School of Education

This timely, tough-minded book shows how American public schools can be saved by instituting high standards for academic achievement. It explains not just what the standards movement is about and why it is important, but also what it will take to bring every student up to high standards, no matter where that student starts.

Tucker and Codding focus on empowering both students and adults by giving students the gift of high expectations and by giving school professionals the information, skills, authority and resources needed to do the job. They advocate building a standards-based instructional system, creating a results-oriented culture devoted to continuous improvement, and making the institution and the people in it accountable for reaching the goals set by the standards.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The National Center on Education and the Economy, where Tucker and Codding are, respectively, president and v-p of programs, is a well-funded, well-connected nonprofit organization working for standards-based reform. Here, the authors combine their expertise to offer a cogent, comprehensive argument for internationally recognized standards of achievement. Tucker gives an economical component to their argument, while Codding, formerly a high school principal in California, presents interludes throughout the book highlighting her hands-on successes and failures with standards-based education. Tucker and Codding declare in their introduction that educators must "abandon. . .the idea that we are doing our job by sorting youngsters into winners and losers"; in fact, one of the main suggestions in the book is for "an internationally benchmarked certificate standard" that students could pass at any age they were capable. This isn't a theoretical statement of purpose, but something much more concrete: the authors offer details on new textbooks and new assignments, rebuilding accountability in the schools from the bottom up. It is up to their readers to act upon the authors' words. Although probably a bit dry for the average reader, educators and concerned Americans could well find this a blueprint for forging great change in our nation's school system.

Copyright 1998 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"The authors combine their expertise to offer a cogent, comprehensive argument for internationally recognized standards of achievement.... This isn't a theoretical statement of purpose, but something much more concrete: the authors offer details on new textbooks and new assignments, rebuilding accountability in the schools from the bottom up.... Educators and concerned Americans could well find this a blueprint for forging great change in our nation's school system." --Publishers Weekly

"A timely book that aims to describe the standards movement, explain why it is important and what steps should be taken to achieve a standards-driven reform effort." --Star (Indianapolis, IN)

"This is more than a book about ?standards.' It is a very significant and fundamental contribution to the national discussion about school reform. Readable, insightful, and provocative, it should be compulsory reading for everyone who cares about the future of education." --Seymour Papert, LEGO professor of learning research, epistemology and learning, The Media Laboratory, MIT

"A must-read for those seeking high standards for all students. With unusual insight, the authors address the major issues, offering inspirational examples of schools that succeed." --Jerome T. Murphy, professor and dean, Harvard Graduate School of Education

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (January 23, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787938947
• ISBN-13: 978-0787938949
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #531,893 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Future is Now, May 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Standards for Our Schools: How to Set Them, Measure Them, and Reach Them (Hardcover)

This is a book about the future of American education - what it could be - what it had better be - if we intend to meet the demands of the kind of global/technological world in which we seem to be living . The authors make a poignant comparison between a typical American high school student who has no idea of his future in terms of professional or occupational aspirations and several young people in Europe and Asia who are preparing for their futures as an important part of their schooling. The contrasts between what we are doing and what some other countries are doing to prepare their youth for the future is stunning and provocative.

The authors demonstrate how a standards based education - one based on national industry skill standards - can provide the focus for many of our youth, regardless of whether they are going to be doctors or plumbers (we ALL go to work after our formal education).

Several convincing examples are given of schools who are successfully implementing a standards-based approach. Many excellent resourses for systemic change are included. A "must read" for anyone interested in improving our educational system.

4.0 out of 5 stars good, April 14, 2011

By 

harriet (New England) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Standards for Our Schools: How to Set Them, Measure Them, and Reach Them (Paperback)

This is an interesting book (for those in education). I do not agree with all of the author's points, but some were spot-on, and all were well-written and explained.