ABSTRACT
The value o f looking critically at the RDAs for guidance in setting educational standards lies in the lessons o f process, both the successes and the setbacks, and in an examination o f their use. A review o f more than five decades o f history o f the RDAs and of the important milestones in their development suggests several important and transferable ideas:
• In the case o f dietary recommendations, it has been clear from the outset that no single standard can serve as an adequate yardstick against which to measure the concept of nutritional well-being even among relatively homogeneous populations. In the field of education, most would agree that the types o f inferences one can draw about the performance o f American youth are also lim ited by reliance on a single measure; different types o f measurements to evaluate different components o f academic achievement even within a single subject area are also necessary. Data about student performance on tasks that extend over time, that rely on group activity, and that cross disciplinary boundaries may well provide a more complete picture o f student achievement than those based on a more conventional, discrete assessment. Data on teacher professional development, curriculum and instruction, and resources also may be telling.
