Opportunity-to-Learn Standards

The nation's commitment to providing a meaningful opportunity to learn for all students, particularly low-income and minority students, has been the source of much consideration since the 1954 school desegregation decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education. The concept of setting standards to define or to require that schools offer the conditions needed to ensure students have equal access to educational opportunity has arisen in several different contexts. This discussion has included proposals to adopt opportunity-to-learn (OTL) standards, criteria and metrics that might be used to define and deliver the necessary resources for schools as well as to compare schools. OTL standards have arisen as part of the call for educational equity and access to resources, as a consideration for ...