Giving Compass' Take:

• Christensen Institute's Thomas Arnett discusses an alarming report from TNTP (formerly known as The New Teacher Project) that shows how students feel underprepared for college. Where do school standards come into play?

• The upshot here is that the work of educators, administrators and policymakers can't stop simply at setting the standards, but must make room for adjustments and better teacher training.

• Here's more on why higher K-12 standards have not correlated with higher test scores.

Standards in education come in two different forms. On one hand, we have outcome standards, such as the Common Core State Standards. They specify goals for our education system but do not specify the means for achieving those goals. With outcome standards, it makes sense to specify the standards at the policy level as benchmarks for determining whether schools are accomplishing the public’s goals for education.

Most other education standards, in contrast, are input-focused standards. They specify how teachers should teach, how school leaders should lead or what features should be present in learning environments or learning resources. We make a mistake when we assume that well-crafted standards will pave a clear path to desired outcomes. In truth, when it comes to input standards, specifying the standards is only an initial step along the path to ensuring consistent quality in education.

Read the full article about why education standards often disappoint by Thomas Arnett at Christensen Institute.