Deborah Meier Video Activity

Have Standards Made a Difference?

Special Thanks to the Center for Educational Leadership for the use of this video.

For 20 years, Deborah Meier helped revitalize public schools in New York City’s East Harlem district. In 1974, Superintendent Tony Alvarado asked Meier to test her theories in a new elementary school in Harlem’s District 4, where test scores were the lowest in the city. She founded Central Park Elementary School (CPE), a highly successful alternative school emphasizing active learning. Within the next dozen years, Meier opened two other Central Park elementary schools and, in collaboration with the National Coalition of Essential Schools, the Central Park East Secondary School.

In the attached video, Deborah Meier talks about the reform movement and specifically about the standards embedded in reform. She provides several indicators in the video segment that suggest that standards may not be improving the school systems across the nation. Listen to this short video segment and then have a dialogue with your team about if you think Deborah Meier is correct.

Video Link – Have Standards Made a Difference?

Questions for dialogue

  1. What do you think about Deborah’s statements regarding standards?
  2. Do you know of indicators and data in your school that show similar results? If so, what are the indicators?
  3. Do you know of indicators and data in your school that refute what Deborah is stating? If so, what are the indicators? ?