Testing varies and a move towards international standards

This article in the recent Education Week shows how assessments vary from state to state and country to country. It talks about how each state sets standards differently and reports to the federal government achievement based on these standards. The problem with that is that then students can't always compete on an international level. As the world shrinks our students need to know how they compare to other students around the world. The Common Core Standards is the first step to address this issue but they are not really assessing the achievements of the students, only setting goals. I was pleased to see Oregon mentioned as one of the states that where taking the first step to using global standards. For years I have heard that Oregon leads the nation in learning but recently have noted that by nation we are lacking. I hope that by using the benchmarks listed in this article we can prepare our students to compete on a global level.