Persistence and Change: Standards-based Reform in Nine States

Putting standards to the test: A design for evaluating the systemic reform of education

“…Long acknowledged as pivotal to effective educational reform, district capacity has received increasingly more attention, particularly as researchers have begun to ask the hard question of whether systemic reform policies really do "reach down" into the classroom (Wang, et al, 1993). In fact, district and teacher capacity are viewed by some as one of the greatest challenges to the implementation of reform (Massell, Kirst, & Hoppe, 1997).…”

“…These criteria, along with criteria developed by organizations such as AFT will allow us to describe implementation efforts objectively, without making normative judgments. Research by Massell, Kirst, & Hoppe (1997) has also provided key questions on assessment reform that are relevant to this project.…”

“…Massell, Kirst, & Hoppe (1997), for example, found that some districts in the nine states where they track reforms were pursuing their own systemic reform policies and, in fact, were ahead of state efforts. Districts tended to see state standards as only one of the resources that they could call on as they developed their curriculum and instructional guidance systems.…”

“…The following are, therefore, recommended criteria that draw upon the work of AFT, Fordham, McREL, Achieve, CCSSO, and the work of Massell, Kirst, and Hoppe (1997): § Types of Standards -We will want to determine whether the state has developed just content standards (broad statements about what students should know), or both content and performance standards (the specification of what level of performance constitutes mastery of the content standards).…”

Beyond Legislative Schizophrenia: Sustaining Long-Term Educational Reform and Short-Term Viability

“…In an analysis of the evolution of standards-based systemic reform in the United States in the mid 1990s, Massell, Kirst and Hoppe (1997) document over a 10-year period the remarkable rise of the concept of standards-based systemic reform in the United States. They note the virtually unprecedented spread of a controlling idea for reform in the mid-eighties and its persistence through the midnineties despite being challenged by anti-government rhetoric and despite significant changes in state political leadership.…”