INSISTING ON HIGH
EXPECTATIONS
Academic standards define what students should know and be able to do by the end of their K-12
education. Academic standards create a roadmap for teachers’ instruction and a clear set of expectations
for student learning. Standards should inform teacher preparation programs, influence curricula and
textbooks, and guide state assessments and accountability systems. For these reasons, high-quality
academic standards can lay the foundation for shifts in policy and practice that lead to improved student
outcomes.53
The following characteristics are important
Educators need data from assessments to make
components of high-quality academic standards:
informed decisions about instructional strategies.
• Rigor: Standards are challenging and
Teachers use assessment data to monitor students’
progress toward mastery of standards and to
emphasize critical thinking and problem
tailor their instruction to the needs of individual
solving.
students.56 Assessments also help students and
• Focus: Standards cover a smaller number
of concepts in greater depth rather than
learning about many different concepts at a
surface level.
• Coherence: Standards progress logically from
one topic to another.54
parents know whether they are on track for success
after high school.57 To get the most accurate
and useful information about student progress
toward postsecondary and workforce readiness,
assessments must align with the standards that
guide teachers in their classrooms.58
Aligning assessments and standards enables teachers
Over recent years, Tennessee made significant
to focus on ensuring students master skills and
shifts in policy and practice to raise expectations
content, rather than “teaching to the test.” A high-
for students. As a result, parents, educators, and
quality assessment has a positive impact on the quality
policymakers have recognized that students achieve
of instruction because the skills students need for the
more when expectations are high. For example,
test are the same skills they will need for future success
students increasingly learn and practice key concepts
in postsecondary education and the workforce.59
in the context of real-world problems, leading to
greater student engagement with the material and
UPDATE ON THE WORK
a deeper level of understanding.55 Students are also
challenged to make connections between subject
areas and to think about multiple ways to approach a
Assessment. Tennessee initially planned to
problem.
implement the Partnership for Assessment
of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC)
21
Since the adoption of Tennessee’s State Standards
assessment during the 2014-15 school year. However,
in English Language Arts and Mathematics in 2010,
legislation passed by the Tennessee General
educators throughout the state have made great
Assembly during the 2014 legislative session delayed
progress in implementing the new, more challenging
the implementation of an aligned, college and
standards. However, the transition to new standards
career ready assessment and led the state to offer
will not be complete until Tennessee implements
a Request for Proposals (RFP) process for a new
high-quality assessments that are fully aligned to
assessment.60 In the 2014-15 school year, Tennessee
those standards.
students in grades 3-8 took the TCAP Achievement