A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n
October 1997
Dear School Board Chair:
Our nation expects its students to reach high levels of academic performance in order to ensure America's success in a global economy and the attainment of individual opportunity. As local school board members, we are in a special position to provide the leadership to produce the results that the children in our communities will need to succeed.
United States Secretary of Education Richard Riley has written the enclosed letter to apprise you of information that can aid in your important policy and leadership role.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) contain valuable information about United States' student performance, as well as a wealth of information about how education is provided in the United States and other countries. This information can give you a frame of reference in developing goals and strategies to raise student achievement in your school district.
Frequently, the success of the local school board lies in the "power of the question". The information contained in reports like NAEP and TIMSS, can assist you in that way as well. As you and your staff work with this information, the following questions may be especially pertinent:
- What are the academic standards in our school system? What do we want our students to do in various courses and grade levels and how well do we want them to do it?
- In addition to state assessments, are there any additional tests or methods by which we want to measure student achievement in our school district? Should we define student achievement to include character development, or higher school completion rates, in addition to results on tests?
- Do our community and school staff have a common vision as to what our school board wants to accomplish to raise student performance and did they participate in creating that vision?
- Do we offer a range of programs so that all children, including those with special needs, will have an opportunity to achieve high standards?
- Are all of our teachers qualified to teach to higher standards? How many of our teachers are certified to teach in their area of instruction? How well are our professional development opportunities connected to reaching our standards? Is our system attracting and retaining the most qualified teachers?
- Are our textbooks, instructional materials, and educational technologies tied to the knowledge and skills that we want our children to possess? Do our classroom instructional practices promote student mastery of concepts, knowledge, and skills?
We hope that the opening of school has gone well for you, and that this information will be useful as you build for the future.
Sincerely,
William Ingram
President
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