Greetings all,

Education Week is hosting an online chat regarding the Quality Counts 
report that I referenced last week.
Aaron

Join us Wednesday, Jan. 18, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., Eastern time, for an 
online chat with guest Diane Ravitch on national standards, curricula, and 
tests.

In a commentary piece published in EDUCATION WEEK's recently released 
QUALITY COUNTS 2006 report, "Quality Counts at 10: A Decade of 
Standards-Based Education," Ravitch contends that standards-based education 
reform has been compromised because each of the 50 states sets its own 
standards and monitors its own progress, creating mixed messages about what 
students should know and be able to do and incentives for the states to 
lower existing standards so as to demonstrate "progress."

Ravitch argues that adopting national standards is the best way to solve 
the problem of inconsistent standards and to prevent states from lowering 
passing scores on state exams to show progress.

Read Diane Ravitch's Commentary:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2006/01/05/17ravitch.h25.html

This chat will focus on the impact that adopting national standards could 
have on standards-based reform, and address how the National Assessment of 
Educational Progress could serve as a blueprint for national standards.

Please join us for this special live Web chat.
http://www.edweek-chat.org

Submit advance questions here:
http://www.edweek-chat.org/question.php3

No special equipment is needed to participate in this text-based chat. A 
complete transcript will be posted shortly after the chat is completed.



Aaron Kohring
Coordinator, LINCS Literacy & Learning Disabilities Special Collection 
(http://ldlink.coe.utk.edu/)
Moderator, National Institute for Literacy's Content Standards Discussion 
List (http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Contentstandards)
Coordinator, Equipped for the Future Websites (http://eff.cls.utk.edu/)

Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee
EFF Center for Training and Technical Assistance
Phone:(865) 974-4109 main
           (865) 974-4258 direct
Fax:   (865) 974-3857
e-mail: akohring at utk.edu