IT IS A TOPIC that is fast becoming difficult to ignore. Each month, new and diverse state activity falls into place that can lead to only one conclusion: the loop of standards, assessments, and accountability is tightening around low academic performance. In some states this trend may take a few more years to have an impact and could even involve a fourth element (school finance). But no state is backing down on the use of these high-stakes policy tools.

One of the preeminent sources of information on the state-by-state progress of high-stakes accountability is Quality Counts, an annual report published in January by Education Week. This year it reported that 48 states are using statewide assessments, 36 states are issuing school report cards, 19 states are rating schools on their performance, 19 states are giving assistance to low-performing schools, 16 states are imposing sanctions on chronically failing schools, and 14 states are giving monetary rewards to high-performing schools.

All this activity is not without its critics, and some of these individuals are predicting some form of public backlash. So far, the states are holding firm in the face of low test scores, complaints about increasing amounts of homework, court challenges, and even charges that these strong accountability measures are unduly affecting poor and minority students. On this last count, Education Week reported, "Of the 1,024 schools identified by states as low performing, four in 10 have minority enrollments that exceed 90%."

Low Test Scores

In mid-January the state of Virginia released test scores on its "Standards of Learning" tests given during the 1997-98 school year. The results raised considerable concern in local districts because 97.8% of Virginia's schools failed to meet at least one of the benchmarks that they will have to reach by 2007 in order to retain their state accreditation. The assessments in academic subjects were built on the standards adopted by the state board of education in 1995. The tests, which are given in grades 3, 5, 8, and high school, cover English, mathematics, science, and history, and 70% of students will have to pass them by the year 2007 in order for a school to stay accredited. A lower standard of SO% passing will be acceptable on the third-grade history and science tests.

The national media did not report this story well. For them, 97.8% was the student failure rate, and this, of course, made the headlines. In reality, the average failure rate for individual students was in the mid-40% range. While this might be judged too high, it is in a range much like that of other states on the first administration of a new test. Needless to say, the Virginia State Board of Education is concerned. For the past four years the board has worked to produce some of the highest academic standards of any state in the country. Any number of other states have used the Virginia standards as a model. Virginia officials have testified in other states, and their standards are highly regarded.

Virginia school districts joined in the criticism of the assessments, saying that districts didn't have enough information about them or that they wanted the complete test released after each administration. Virginia officials responded that the annual cost of the program (approximately $50 million) would rise by 50% if a new examination had to be developed each year. The bottom line in Virginia is this: an interview with state board staff members revealed that the board has no intention of lowering the standards or lowering the cutoff scores, and the mid-40% individual failure rate is in the believable range on the first administration of a high-stakes assessment. Indeed, since the beginning of the use of minimum competency tests for high school graduation, more than 20 states have had first-time failure rates between 30% and 50%. In all instances, these were tests and standards developed solely by each state. In nearly all cases, as schools and students worked toward retesting, the failure rate fell well below 5% by high school graduation.

In Massachusetts, grades 4, 8, and 10 were tested in the spring of 1998, and the state is just about ready for the second round of testing. The state board of education approved four general performance levels for reporting student progress:

Level IV-Advanced. This level represents superior performance. Students at this level demonstrate a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of rigorous subject matter and provide sophisticated solutions to complex problems.

Level III -Proficient. This level represents solid performance. Students at this level demonstrate command over challenging subject matter and solve a wide variety of problems.

Level II - Deficient. This level represents inadequate performance. Students at this level demonstrate partial understanding of subject area knowledge and skills and can solve some simple problems.

Level I - Failing. This level represents unsatisfactory performance. Students at this level fail to meet even the standards of the previous level.

In mid-January New York fourth-graders took the state's new English exam for the first time. The test is made up of traditional multiple-choice items but also requires students to take notes on stories read to them and to write critiques of and essays on the passages they have heard. Spelling, grammar, and punctuation are also part of the final score. The state will bring out a new mathematics test later this year. So far, the English test will not be used as a gateway exam for entry into fifth grade, but the matter is under discussion, at least in New York City.

Richard Mills, the state commissioner of education, commented in an interview in the New York Times, "I think that scores will be low" because "the standards are deliberately higher." In commenting on the fourth-grade English test, he said, "These are the basics that all fourth-graders and other children need to have. It's one of the strategies to change things for the better. I am expecting superintendents and boards, principals and teachers, to examine these results and examine their practices and make appropriate changes."

New York State has a reputation for holding students to high academic standards that is built on its long experience with the Regents Examinations. Quality Counts ranked New York first among all the states in holding students to high academic standards.

Alabama is gradually phasing in tougher standards for its high school exit exam. Last October, students took a test based on eighth-grade skills. In the next school year, a test based on 1 th-grade skills, including algebra and geometry problems, will be used. There is some concern among school officials that low scores will be in the headlines next year. In the past Alabama used an end-of-course geometry test that only 16% of high school students passed in 1996. This rate dropped to 10% in 1997. Ed Richardson, the state superintendent, said that this drop might be partly related to "the increase in the number of students transitioning to higher-level math courses" He added, "Clearly, we are going to have to focus more of our efforts on these subjects to bring these scores up, because these are critical skills in terms of meeting the tougher graduation standards and the standards of the workplace."

In Washington State the new "essential academic learning requirements," mandated by the legislature in 1993, are beginning to take hold. These new standards have been built on the input of thousands of educators, policy makers, parents, business leaders, and students since the Commission on Student Learning began its work. Included in the material sent to schools is a section for parents with a calendar of daily activities to help build skills for the state assessments. Some school districts are doing "value-added" activities on their own. In the Federal Way School District a website has been set up that tells teachers what students should know and be able to do at each grade level. Lesson plans and testing strategies are included.

A Court Challenge

In Florida a new version of an "adequacy" lawsuit has been filed by a coalition of civil rights groups. It charges that the state is failing to provide children with an adequate education as required by the state constitution. The complaint names 19 students from poor school districts in which large percentages of students fail the state's reading and mathematics tests. The focus of this case is not on racial balance or inadequate spending, but rather on holding the state to its own constitutional mandate regarding public education.

"We took a poll, Mrs. May - you have an approval rating of only 2%."

A new state referendum passed by voters last November says that the state must provide a'"uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high-quality system of free public schools." With 1.4 million students, onethird of whom have failed state examinations, Florida presents a challenge to the standards movement. With a new governor and legislature, this will be an interesting case to watch.

Homework Challenges

Parental concern about too much homework, especially for early elementary students, may become another influence on the attainment of higher academic standards. Recent news articles on the topic in the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times have been picked up by other newspapers. These articles generally report on parents' concern about long bouts of homework after children have just completed lots of structured after-school activities and working parents have come home tired. The National PTA says that it has not picked up on any widespread concern about this from around the country. But some parents have heard about a University of Missouri study that shows that the amount of homework required in the elementary grades has little or no effect on academic achievement later in school. Another study from the University of Michigan shows that children are spending more time on homework today than in the early 1980s.

All this activity makes for interesting press, but editors seem to be playing primarily to the grandstands. High rates of test failure and parents who want less homework make news one day; schools' failure to compete favorably with other countries makes news the next. It is probably time for state education officials to hunker down and stay the course. Standards, assessments, and accountability are among the most visible legacies of the challenge to improve education that was issued by A Nation at Risk. Almost every state is moving on this solution; this is not the time to bow to demands for lower cut-off scores or less homework.