We Can Raise Standards (1983)

Although the movement toward national standards in the United States didn't gain serious momentum until the 1990s, educators have long worried about how to ensure a quality education to students on a national level. In the early 1980s, this anxiety was fueled by reports like A Nation at Risk: The Imperative For Educational Reform, by the National Commission on Excellence in Education, which argued that the U.S. education system was eroding and the nation was falling behind other advanced countries.

In the October 1983 issue of Educational Leadership, research professor Herbert Walberg taps into the zeitgeist of the moment by contrasting the decentralized approach to public education used in the United States with Japan's organized and demanding system.

Read the article: We Can Raise Standards (PDF)

Walberg notes that "by fifth grade, the worst Japanese classes exceed the best American classes." He attributes this poor performance to a number of factors, including the absence of a national curriculum and slackening academic standards. Walberg prescribes increasing the amount of time students spend in school and improving the quality of teaching. Both, he says, "bring about large increases in achievement test scores and continuing student interest in learning."

Although over 25 years old, Walberg's comparative approach remains thought-provoking, especially in light of ASCD author Yong Zhao's latest book, Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization, which provides a differing viewpoint from the mainstream push to national standards. If you're looking to get a historical perspective on the standards-based reform movement and its relationship to international competitiveness, Walberg's article is a great place to start.