▁with ▁standards - based ▁education ▁reform , ▁which ▁is ▁based ▁on ▁a ▁belief ▁that ▁all ▁students ▁can ▁succeed , ▁not ▁only ▁a ▁few . ▁ ▁Pass ing ▁a ▁ 1 0 th ▁grade ▁test ▁and ▁award ing ▁a ▁Cert ificate ▁of ▁Initial ▁Master y ▁ens ures ▁that ▁all ▁students ▁will ▁gradu ate ▁with ▁the ▁skills ▁they ▁need ▁to ▁succeed ▁in ▁the ▁world - class ▁economy ▁of ▁the ▁twenty - first ▁century . ▁ ▁Stud ents ▁will ▁no ▁longer ▁be ▁che ated ▁by ▁passing ▁them ▁on ▁to ▁the ▁next ▁grade ▁without ▁obtain ing ▁what ▁every ▁child ▁at ▁the ▁grade ▁level ▁must ▁be ▁able ▁to ▁know ▁and ▁do . ▁ ▁When ▁all ▁students ▁pass ▁all ▁standards , ▁as ▁is ▁the ▁central ▁belief ▁of ▁standards - based ▁education ▁reform , ▁all ▁students ▁from ▁all ▁dem ograph ics ▁will ▁achieve ▁the ▁same ▁ ▁test ▁score , ▁elimin ating ▁the ▁myster ious ▁achiev ement ▁gap ▁which ▁has ▁previously ▁been ▁shown ▁to ▁occur ▁between ▁all ▁groups ▁on ▁all ▁tests . ▁However , ▁as ▁of ▁ 2 0 0 6 , ▁no ▁standards - based ▁assess ment ▁has ▁yet ▁achieved ▁this ▁optim istic ▁( crit ics ▁might ▁call ▁it ▁impossible ) ▁goal , ▁though ▁many ▁show ▁rising ▁scores . ▁ ▁Cons ▁Comp ared ▁to ▁a ▁multiple - choice , ▁norm - refer enced ▁test , ▁a ▁standards - based ▁test ▁can ▁be ▁recognized ▁by : ▁▁ ▁A ▁cut ▁score ▁is ▁determined ▁for ▁different ▁levels ▁of ▁performance . ▁There ▁are ▁no ▁cut ▁scores ▁for ▁norm - refer enced ▁tests . ▁There