Reflecting on standards in the American Education System
Coming into the education program at Butler University, all I had ever heard about standards was that they took away the teacher’s freedom to teach what they wanted, how they wanted to. When visiting high schools in Indy for field placements, the general conversation about standards was that they were limiting academic freedom. However, I believe that many educators do not understand or utilize standards to their fullest potential. Nevertheless, the first step to usefully employing these standards is understanding what they are. The standards used in American classrooms are split up into four parts, NCTE, INTASC, State-Level, and Content Area Specific. NCTE and INTASC are really for the development of teacher’s dispositions. They offer an accepted lens for educators to evaluate state-level and content area standards for use in the classroom. A good education program prepares students to focus their teaching with these standards in mind. In order to be sure that the American youth learn the information deemed necessary, state-level and content area specific standards guide the curriculum. To some, these standards may limit teacher freedom, but in my eyes they offer a useful framework in unit and lesson planning. By understanding how the standards put forth by professional organizations like NCTE and INTASC can help teachers read into state-level and content area specific standards, I have gained a new appreciation for their use in the future of my educational career.