Standards-based Learning

In the Columbus Diocese, we have made a deliberate, and conscious committment to incorporate standards-based teaching and learning practices in our classrooms. These practices support our essential obligation to provide our students with more than just a rigorous academic curriculum to prepare them for high school, college and beyond. Catholic education must also prepare students to take their place in society as Disciples of Christ; instilling in them a sense of service and challenging them to live the Gospel through daily interactions with all whom they come in contact. Therefore, our focus should be placed on both the student’s moral and intellectual excellence.

There are several advantages of standards-based education:

• It ensures consistent expectations across grade levels. 
• It helps teachers and students focus on the standards in their learning activities.
• Assessments are aligned to standards and provide evidence of what a student knows and/or can do. 
• It provides feedback as to a student’s proficiency level allowing the teacher to better individualize instruction. 
• It provides parents with valuable information on how their child is progressing on the critical concepts and skills of the grade level as well as individual standards.

"In standards-based districts and schools, commonly expected, research-based instructional methods and strategies are used to deliver the standards-aligned curriculum and ensure students have adequate and equitable opportunities to learn. . . Consequently, a strong emphasis on ensuring effective classroom instruction is delivered in every classroom, every day is critical to deliver a high-quality, engaging standards-based education to every child." (Colorado Coalition of Standards-Based Education, 2012 pg. 22)

What are the components needed for a standards-based classroom, including what does it look like/feel like/sound like when it is meeting the needs of students?

Curriculum

• Teachers identify and analyze concepts and skills to be learned according to the Diocesan Courses of Study. These concepts and skills are reflected in our standards. Standards are concise, written descriptions of what students are expected to know and be able to do at a specific stage of their education (i.e. one grade level). The standards for each academic content area (Religion, English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Art, Music, Physical Education, and Languages) are listed in our Diocesan Courses of Study. All coursework is tied to standards, which are meant to prepare students for success in elementary, high and post-high school education and work.

Planning

• Teachers first identify what students must learn and be able to do. They must know how the students will demonstrate that learning at a mastery level, and then plan instruction based on those performance objectives and learning targets (i.e, backwards design). Instruction is focused on standards within our Courses of Study including appropriate and meaningful activities that engage the student in the learning process. Students focus on true mastery of a topic or skill and teachers focus on teaching standards that every student must learn. Each lesson taught is connected to a standard, and learning targets along the way mark progress toward meeting the standard. Learning goals are clear and opportunities to meet them are varied. In a traditional classroom, teachers rely on textbooks or published materials as a basis for planning instruction. In a standards-based classroom, teachers pull from various sources and plan with the end in mind.

• The focus of lessons is on what type of thinking and learning students will engage in verses teacher-directed activities. This attribute is critical for students to learn at high levels. To increase thinking with learning adds rigor to the standards-based classroom. Rigor is not more work, it's the right kind of work we want our students to be doing as they participate in learning. Norman Webb's Depth of Knowledge levels can assist teachers in categorizing student tasks.

DOK 1: Recall and Reproduction
DOK 2: Skills and Concepts
DOK 3: Strategic Thinking
DOK 4: Extended Thinking

• Learning targets and performance objectives are aligned to standards and should be clearly understood by students and teachers. Performance objectives are instructional objectives that are linked to a standard and to a higher-order thinking skill. Learning targets, sometimes called “I CAN” statements, are daily or weekly goals that support the performance objective. They serve the purpose of helping students know if they are making day to day progress and provide transparency in learning. A learning target or I CAN statement frames the lesson from the students' point of view.  They cover specific learning for each lesson, and there can be more than one I CAN statement for each standard. For example, using a 3^rd grade example, 3.OA.3 – “Use multiplication and division within 100 to solve word problems in situations involving equal groups, arrays, and measurement quantities, e.g., by using drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.” A couple of learning targets might be “I can use multiplication to solve problems,” and “I can represent a multiplication problem using drawings and equations.” They are different than instructional or performance objectives.

Instruction

• Instruction is differentiated based on assessment data. "Moving on" does not ensure students have learned, but does get them though. On the other hand, using data to monitor then adjust instruction assists in determining whether the students have learned. Our goal is for our students to learn not just “get through”.
• Instruction is characterized by the gradual release of responsibility (from teacher dependence to student independence).
• Students are engaged in learning and assessing their own progress. Engagement in learning means students actively participate in their learning and understand their role in the learning. It also means students can describe what mastery looks like, and they can articulate the learning goal or objective. "Effective classroom instruction is what causes students to be engaged in the classroom and in learning. It is the responsibility of every educator to understand effective instructional methods and strategies and to ensure every student is afforded learning opportunities in classrooms, which use potent, research-based practices that can promise student success and mastery." (Colorado Coalition of Standards-Based Education, 2012 pg. 22)
• Student work is aligned to standards.
• Feedback to students is frequent, timely, aligned to standards, and focused on improving learning.

Assessments

• Formal and informal assessments of learning (formative, summative, and diagnostic) are on-going and aligned to the performance objectives and learning targets. Students know in advance what they will need to learn, and they will have more than one opportunity to show they have met the standard. Teachers will use both informal (formative) and formal (summative) assessment to measure progress. Formative is assessment for learning and is characterized by direct and constructive feedback. Summative is assessment of learning and is designed to provide information or evidence about achievement of standards. Assessments can include portfolios, projects, quizzes, tests and daily assignments. Students will have multiple assessment opportunities –and different assessment options – to demonstrate their understanding of the standards. All assessment items are aligned to standards and determination of mastery is defined and communicated to the student prior to the student taking the assessment. The chart below breaks down the different types of assessments and their purposes:

• Formative assessments are frequent, timely, and focused on improving learning. Data from formative assessments are used to adjust teaching to improve learning, which results in increased student achievement.
• Summative assessment items are directly connected to the standards and assess the type of thinking and learning (depth of knowledge) the standard is targeting. Only summative assessments (written and/or performance tasks) count toward the "grade". Students are graded based on the evidence of achievement. This evidence can come from a variety of sources. STAR tests, performance tasks (observations), projects, portfolios and summative assessments are all examples of evidence teachers can use to determine achievement. Teachers should plan assessments aligned to standards in order to provide direct evidence of student proficiency on specific learning outcomes/goals. However, teachers should be careful not to use results from learning and practice activities (diagnostic assessments such as pretests, formative assessments or tasks). Students must be given the freedom to try and fail because that is integral to the learning process. When considering evidence, teachers should give priority to the most recent and most comprehensive evidence.
• Teaching and scoring rubrics are aligned to standards and reflect high expectations for all students.
• There is a system in place that provides for multiple opportunities for the student to demonstrate mastery of the standards. This system includes student expectations, teacher expectations and parent communication. Additional opportunities for students to learn, practice and exhibit their knowledge, skills, and growth makes for authentic learning in a standards-based classroom.

Grading and Reporting

• "Grades" are determined through evidence of learning and reported by standard.
• Most recent evidence and progress over time are used to reflect achievement.
• Behavior and academic progress are both valued but are reported on and addressed differently.
• There is a system in place for communicating progress on students with special needs and English learners.