Designing a Standards-directed School System: Definitions

DESIGNING A STANDARDS-DIRECTED SCHOOL SYSTEM

Definitions

Content Standards and Benchmarks Example

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Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL)

Content standards: statements that specify “what students should know and be able to do.”

Benchmarks: specific statements of information and skill at developmentally appropriate levels that add definition and detail to content standards.

Iowa is the only state that does not have a set of standards written by the state. Because of this, local districts have the responsibility to direct the selection of standards and benchmarks that represent what they want their students to know and be able to do. National content organizations have recommendations to use and McREL has compiled these documents into a single compendium for districts to use for this process.

Special Note: Standards-directed education system is used throughout to represent any system that utilizes standards to some degree. When a district makes a decision as to the term and definition to be used—it can replace the general reference “standards-directed.”

For more information read What Works in Schools, Translating Research Into Action by Robert J. Marzano.

		Overhead of Definitions

		5 Year Plan to Develop a Standards-based System

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Standards-based education system: Students’ performance relative to standards (or standards and benchmarks) is recorded and reported, and some type of accountability is built into the system. This might include accountability for individual schools and/or individual students.

For example, students might be held accountable in that they must meet benchmarks before they are allowed to move on to the next level. Accountability for an individual school might mean, for example, that the school must develop an action plan for increasing the numbers of students who meet the benchmarks.

This school accountability is what each school district in Iowa (and the nation) is presently doing as NCLB accountability is demanding an on-going increase in percentage of students proficient.

Standards-referenced education system: Standards are clearly defined and drive curriculum development both at the district level and within classrooms. Teachers are expected to focus on the standards when they plan instruction and assessment. Through articulation, scheduling, and course design every effort is made to insure that all students have the opportunity to achieve the standards.

Iowa Teaching Standards

These definitions (and others) can be used as a district makes decisions for its students and community. It is possible for a district leadership team to write an implementation plan that incorporates both of the definitions for a standards-directed system. A district may decide to have mathematics, reading, and science operate in a standards-based system while all other departments are standards-referenced. The expectations explicitly stated in the Iowa Professional Teaching Standards will have an impact on the degree to which these definitions can be adopted/adapted. Take special note of Iowa Teaching Standards 3, 4, and 5 with stated expectations of teachers in Iowa to align their assessments to instruction and instruction to standards.

Designing a Standards-directed School System