Education Policy: Challenges in Implementing New Standards and Assessments

With a new school year underway, debate over education standards and high-stakes testing is taking place nationally as Congress tries to reconcile competing House and Senate rewrites of the controversial No Child Left Behind law.

In Pennsylvania, scores for students in grades 3 to 8 showed significant drops on tests based on more rigorous standards known as the Pennsylvania Core Standards, which are based on Common Core State Standards.

In this Events @ RAND podcast, Laura Hamilton, associate director, RAND Education, joins Allison McCarthy, executive director of Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment, Pittsburgh Public Schools, and Cathleen Cubelic, president of Western Region of the Pennsylvania Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, in a discussion moderated by Stanley W. Thompson, director of The Heinz Endowments' Education Program, about Pennsylvania's approach to standards and assessment, what challenges remain, and what the future holds.

Speakers

Allison McCarthy

Executive Director of Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment, Pittsburgh Public Schools

Cathleen Cubelic

President, Western Region of the Pennsylvania Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development; Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment at Midwestern Intermediate Unit

Stanley W. Thompson (moderator)

Director, The Heinz Endowments' Education Program