Succeeding with Standards. . - book review

School Administrator, April, 2002 by Sandra Lowery

Succeeding with Standards: Linking Curriculum, Assessment, and Action Planning by Judy F. Carr and Douglas E. Harris provides a comprehensive, practical system for implementing standards by connecting those national, state and local standards to local curriculums.

They provide step-by-step suggestions for determining who is to teach which standard and how standards will be assessed. A comprehensive assessment system is outlined.

The authors have included samples of curriculum and assessment plans, instructional guidelines, models for professional development driven by best practices, evaluation models and action plans. These samples and models can readily be adapted for local use.

The chapter on action planning will be especially helpful. It focuses explicitly on student performance as part of a strategic plan. The action planning model can be used by planning teams to examine student performance data and other sources of data, summarize and interpret findings and then link those findings to action steps.

Another chapter recommends effective professional development activities based on improvement of student learning. This chapter includes principles for standards-based professional development, examples of best practices and suggestions for supervision and evaluation of staff training activities.

(Succeeding With Standards: Linking Curriculum, Assessment, and Action Planning by Judy F. Carr and Douglas E. Harris, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1703 N. Beauregard St., Alexandria, VA 22311, 2001, 200 pp., $24.95 softcover)