High standards need support. (20 Years After "A Nation at Risk").

Twenty years ago, a controversial report titled A Nation at Risk challenged our country to improve its public education system. The report sparked the standards and reform movements, and with them, the expectation that all students would benefit.

The public education landscape today has been transformed. Every state has adopted academic standards. There's a greater focus on school accountability and the importance of teacher quality. Increased access to preschool has helped more children start school ready to learn. And we have many more proven, replicable, and cost-effective ways to help students learn.

The resulting accomplishments are tangible and promising. Many cities have seen district-wide gains in student achievement. High school students are taking more challenging courses, and more students are going to--and completing--college. Yet, much work remains.

Too often, the least qualified teachers are assigned to classrooms with the greatest needs. In some states, standards and assessments are divorced from the curriculum. And too many classrooms are overcrowded, and lack the textbooks, technology, or other learning tools necessary to provide a high quality education.

Indeed, our progress toward what A Nation at Risk identified as the "twin goals of equity and high quality schooling"--a principle at the core of our national being--has been uneven, at best. Most high-poverty schools still get less funding ($966 less, on average) than schools with more economically advantaged students.

It isn't only about funding: the substance of reform is vitally important. But the components, like good tests and better-trained teachers, must be paid for. Such focused and prudent support for schools can make all the difference, as teachers like Richard Hathaway, a 3rd grade teacher in the ABC Unified School District near Los Angeles, can tell you.

Hathaway's low-income school has implemented an intensive reading program, with academic specialists and extra support for struggling students. "We're getting great results," says Hathaway. "Reading scores were up nearly 30 percent last year."

These efforts, and his district's move to equalize funding for its schools, demonstrate what standards-based reform was meant to do: set high standards for all students, enabling even our poorest students to achieve at the highest levels.

Although progress has been slower than we want, a framework for achievement is in place, and we are moving forward. Schools have shown steady improvement when targeted resources are wisely spent. In this time of spiraling deficits, we must not move backward. Giving all students an equal chance for school success will return benefits many times over.

Sandra Feldman, President, American Federation of Teachers