Research analyst Larry Lashway has dug into the messiest aspects of the standards movement to write an engaging book titled The New Standards and Accountability: Will Rewards and Sanctions Motivate America's Schools to Peak Performance?

Published this year by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management at the University of Oregon, the book begins by examining "the many faces of accountability." The author weaves into his discussion topics not typically tackled in the standards literature — topics such as the psychology of human motivation, including the relative power of intrinsic versus extrinsic rewards. He grapples with such fundamental questions as, Why do people do what they do? What motivators are teachers and students most likely to respond to?

In addition to covering topics as diverse as the science of behaviorism and the lure of video-games, Lashway gets into the nitty-gritty of testing and such mundane issues as "indicators," report cards, and graduation requirements. The wide-ranging discussion is enlivened by pithy writing and new perspectives. Readers are treated to quotes from blockbuster movies Dead Poets Society and Mr. Holland's Opus. Mixed with Lashway's impeccable scholarship, this prevents the book from being overly pedantic.

The book manages to be both concise and comprehensive. It hits the key themes that characterize the standards movement in the United States today. Chapter headings are:

• The Accountability Challenge
• Understanding Human Motivation
• Educational Standards
• Assessment
• Use of Performance Data: Indicators and School Report Cards
• Incentives: Motivating by Rewards and Sanctions
• Building Capacity for Improvement
• Unanswered Questions and Leadership Imperatives

The author offers reassurance for frazzled educators who see standards as one more burden in their already jam-packed school day. Soothes Lashway: "Where standards are concerned, no school starts with a blank slate. There is always a curriculum in place that can serve as a worthy foundation. Standards add precision and accountability to the curriculum, but much of what teachers already do is easily adapted to the new system. Psychologically, it is vital for teachers to recognize that standards do not require them to start over."

Based on his analysis, Lashway offers this caveat in his closing chapter. "Thus far," he writes, "research does not tell us much about the effectiveness of standards-based accountability. Few states have fully implemented their systems, and it will be years before trustworthy evidence is available." Still, he observes, "The fact that policymakers have managed to get 50 state bureaucracies headed in approximately the same direction at the same time is an astonishing achievement, and it attests to the depth of the public's desire to make the system work."

To order a copy of The New Standards and Accountability: Will Rewards and Sanctions Motivate America's Schools to Peak Performance?, call the ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management at 1-800-438-8841.

— Lee Sherman