Southern Regional Education Board2004
This is another fine report from the SREB's "Challenge to Lead" series. (Click here for our evaluation of an earlier report on teacher quality.) It sets out two imperatives for middle school educators and policy makers - producing high achievement with no gaps, and giving students a rigorous curriculum that prepares them for high school - and then supplies recommendations on how to further these goals. There are many helpful charts illustrating Southern states' scores, both on their own standards assessments and on NAEP. The authors note that state standards vary wildly in quality and are not always aligned with NAEP. (In Georgia, for example, 81 percent of 8th graders ostensibly met or exceeded state standards in reading in 2003, but only 69 percent were at or above NAEP's "Basic" level.) States must have effective, rigorous standards upon which to base instruction and testing, or statewide assessment tests will give little indication of their actual progress. Admirable emphasis is also placed on reforming middle schools so they actually prepare students for high school. (The middle school years are often seen as a time when students are too caught up in hormonal and social change to learn much; as a result, many middle schoolers don't learn that much.) The authors provide guidance for setting matters right, including Algebra I for all 8th and 9th graders. A brief yet rewarding read; you can find it here.