The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which was signed into law on January 8, 2002. This act brought about a new criterion-referenced era of education in the United States.
Criterion-referenced teaching and learning measures an individual students’ performance against a set of academic standards and indicated an individual student’s level of proficiency in relation to specific standards.
Following NCLB, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was passed in 2015. According to the U.S. Department of Education, this act “requires -for the first time- that all students in America be taught high academic standards that will prepare them to succeed in college and careers.”
To meet ESSA requirements, states must define high levels of performance in academic standards and implement systems that clearly track student performance and achievement. A systematic way for schools to meet these requirements is to implement standards-based learning and reporting.
STEM School Highlands Ranch is moving towards Standards-Based Learning and Reporting to measure and communicate students’ learning and academic growth and achievement with greater accuracy. By switching we are able to provide clearer feedback to students based on specific learning goals.
In a traditional hundred-point grading system, grades are generated from the work assigned to students. These scores often include points for extra credit or deductions for behavior, such as turning work in late, and are an average of all of these things. This system does not take into account the learning process and doesn’t accurately show what a student can do. There are also biases within this system since teachers apply points differently. Students often do not know what a grade means and grade meanings can vary from class to class. Earning points becomes the motivating factor for students, causing them to chase points instead of knowledge.
Standards-Based Learning focuses on the mastery of essential content.
Standards-based education in Colorado is defined as an ongoing teaching/learning cycle that ensures all students learn and master Colorado’s Academic Standards and associated concepts and skills.
In this continuous process of teaching/learning, student achievement is frequently measured through a variety of formats and assessment practices, and students are provided multiple opportunities to learn until they reach mastery. Regardless of the content area, course, level, or revisions in standards, this teaching and learning cycle remains constant.
Being standards-based means that every teacher, in every classroom, every day, through this continuous teaching/learning cycle, ensures students learn all standards and associated concepts and skills to mastery.
THEN |
NOW |
Students receive a letter grade that represents a general idea of where they are in their learning. |
Students receive a proficiency scale score in reference to each standard that has been taught |
Teachers using individual ways, such as averaging or total points, to arrive at a final grade |
Consistent grading practices |
Academics and behavior mixed together into a grade |
Academic and behavior reported separately |
Grade books that track assignments |
Grade books that track progress toward standards |
100 point scale that emphasizes points |
Four-point scale that defines levels of learning, growth and knowledge |
In short, yes. However students will need the content covered to do well on the assessment pieces that are used for data collection. If a student does not do well on a data collection item they will need to work with the teacher to determine the resubmission requirements. Some of the requirements could be that prior to being given the opportunity to resubmit, the student must complete all of the classwork that they did not submit.
In terms of this question, practice refers to when a teacher presents a new topic or standard students should have the opportunity to “practice” that standard and receive feedback on that standard, prior to being assessed. There will still be homework opportunities for students to practice at home, however, no class should be introducing new content that students would need to learn on their own, without the teacher introducing that standard first.
Yes. Students currently are at different levels and are collaborating. This will not change with SBL.
AP and CE courses will follow their standards and will not follow standards-based learning.
In order for data to be valid, there need to be multiple data points. The teacher will determine how many data points a standard requires. For a more complex standard, there might need to be quite a few data points that are needed versus with a simpler data point.
Yes. PBL and SBL go hand in hand. When you look at proficiency scales, the level 2.0 sections are really a majority of your direct instruction that you will need to be successful at the standard. This is the foundational knowledge piece. A 3.0 and a 4.0 are where you begin to see Problem Based Learning. This is where the level of complexity is higher and students are being asked to apply their knowledge in various different ways.
