Where's the Beef?

Audience Question

Great conversation, but what about the importance of curriculum? Maybe the reason we're spending a lot of money and not producing student results is because we are not teaching the right things at the right time and in the right manner to our students. How important is this issue of our curriculum development across math and science? What should be the focus of states on making sure that when we put the teacher in front of those kids, they've got a quality curriculum that their teaching?

Nina Rees (U.S. Department of Education)

. . . one of the things we've done at the federal level is to really go in and conduct rigorous evaluations and research of what works in classrooms. . . . Until you have that evidence it's very difficult to go about replicating things at the state and national level.

David Driscoll (Massachusetts Commissioner of Education)

I think it's the meat of the sandwich. Our reform is about curriculum frameworks, about the standards, and then about testing, the assessment, and high-stakes testing that goes with that. That's the engine.