Setting The Standards

The system revolves around a series of syllabuses, which aren't required-reading lists but broad educational standards. As part of the pilot test, teachers and scholars in each of the core subject areas are working to outline the higher-order thinking and problemsolving skills that American students must acquire to compete in a changing global economy. "Everything else follows from that,'' Resnick says.

"We have wrestled with the details of what a standard is,'' notes Paul LeMahieu, director of planning, research, and evaluation for the Pittsburgh Public Schools, one of the project's pilot sites. "How you define a standard will have no small implication on whether you can even implement it across sites. We don't have any conclusive answer yet.''

The new system will attempt to measure practical applications and thinking skills rather than simple fact-based knowledge. Says Tucker: "We are hoping to create an examination system that will put a premium on thinking, problem solving, and a capacity to apply knowledge to real-world problems.'' Those skills require some factual knowledge, so the system might include a small number of multiple-choice questions in the familiar fill-in-the-bubble format. "But we're asking for a lot more than that,'' Tucker says. Resnick notes that the system will almost certainly emphasize what she calls "open-ended'' examination approaches: essay questions, portfolios of student...