1. Curricular Foundations of Education
Standards-Based Education and Assessment

2. Standards-Based Education
Proficiencies: knowledge, skills, or dispositions that students are expected to acquire in order to meet a set of standards
Not what teachers should teach, but what students should know and be able to do…all students to construct, integrate, and apply their knowledge

3. Standards
Standards to determine curriculum, the use of multiple assessments of student learning to determine learning
Standards-based education is a systemic approach to the entire teaching and learning process…the entire school system is driven and linked by a set of standards that the entire education community endorses.

4. Differing Conceptions of Standards
World-class standards: meant to inspire students to do better over time…curriculum as a developmental process…the high levels of performance necessary to be competitive at individual and international levels
Real-world standards…that will make students employable and enable them to live independent lives

5. Standards
Discipline-based/content standards…that specify learning outcomes in a subject or discipline
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) standards…requires all states to set standards for what a child should know and learn for all grades in mathematics, reading, and science…and to set a level of proficiency to determine whether students meet them

6. Standards World class……………..real world Ideal………………………practical
Developmental………absolute
Discipline-based……….generic
Teacher centered…..student centered
National………………..…local
Broad in scope……..narrow and specific
Teacher…………………student
Inputs………………………..outputs

7. Types of Standards
Content standards…knowledge that should be learned in various subject areas…grade level benchmarks linked to “big ideas” themes or conceptual strands that should be nurtured throughout a student’s career
Performance standards…statements about what a student or a teacher should be able to do…combinations of knowledge and skills… “how will we know they understand?”
Opportunity-to-learn standards…supports and resources by the district and community

8. Assessment: The Other Side of Standards
Assessment implies many things: evaluation, grades, tests, performances, criteria, rubrics
Purpose of assessment…ultimately to help students learn
Rubrics…scoring guides that describe what learners should know and be able to do at different levels of competence

9. Assessment
Formative assessment…collection of data to show what a student has learned in order to determine instruction required next
Summative assessment…data about student performance that are used to make a judgment about a grade, promotion to the next grade, graduation, college entrance, etc.
Diagnosis…used to determine at what level a student is functioning as compared to the level s/he should be able to function developmentally

10. Traditional Assessments
Competency-based
Norm referenced…compared with a norm group of similar individuals…do not reveal all a person knows or is able to do
Criterion-referenced…compare a student’s performance with a specific type of accomplishment or criterion

11. Types of Performance Assessments
Learning logs and journals
Folios and portfolios
Interviews
Observation and anecdotal records
Student products and projects
Videotapes/audiotapes

12. Rubrics A scoring guide…often associated with performance assessments
Analytic…means looking at each dimension of the performance and scoring each
Holistic…refers to considering all criteria simultaneously and making one overall evaluation

13. Designing authentic performance assessments
Selecting a proper context
Stuffing the context with multiple opportunities
Asking different types of questions
Assessing the important elements

14. Principles for high-quality assessments
Base assessments on standards for learning
Represent performances of understanding in authentic ways
Embed assessments in curriculum and instruction
Provide multiple forms of evidence about student learning
Evaluate standards without unnecessary standardization
Involve local educators, provide professional development

15. Accountability High-stakes testing Pressures to cheat
Teaching to the test
One-size-fits-all
The threats of a national exam
Increased teacher burden