SBE Parent Information
Standards-Based Education Parent Information
Developing a standards-based curriculum and shifting toward standards-reflected grades requires changes in the way teachers teach and in the way schools view education. The shift to standards-based education is perhaps one of the most comprehensive and complex endeavors the public educational system has experienced in over 100 years.
Because change is challenging and because the education field requires constant reflection and revision, the documents and practices that exist today could very well change throughout the years. Please be assured that any changes are based on reflection, research, and effective practices, leading to a greater understanding of how students learn, and are always made with the best interests of students in mind.
“The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change.”
-- Heraclitus --
Glossary of SBE Terms:
Assessment: Gathering and interpreting information about student achievement using a variety of tools.
Common Assessment: The same assessment that is given and graded by common grade level/subject classrooms at about the same time to collect data.
Curriculum: The lessons and academic content taught in a school or in a specific course or program
Feedback: Feedback is not evaluative or generic; instead, it offers specific comments regarding student progress toward proficiency and next steps (academic or behavioral) for reaching the goal of the standards.
Formative Assessment: Periodic assessment tool for learning that is used to adjust instruction for individual students or a whole class.
Grade: A simple, clear, and concrete summary representation of student achievement based on what a student knows at the end of a given time period. The number (or letter) reported at the end of a period of time as a summary statement of student performance.
Learning Target: Concise, written descriptions of what students are expected to know and be able to do at a specific stage of their education.
Prioritized Standards: power standards or prioritized standards refers to a subset of learning standards that educators have determined to be the highest priority or most important for students to learn, based on endurance, leverage, readiness, and professional judgment.
Proficiency: Marked when a student reaches the expectations of the standard.
Proficiency Scale: Articulates learning progressions and expectations for each prioritized standard.
Score: To mark, evaluate, or place a value on a single product as compared to a standard or objective. The number (or letter) “score” given to any student test or performance.
Standard: Statement that describes what and/or how well students are expected to understand and perform.
Standards-based practices: A wide gamut of classroom practices that involve prioritized standards, learning targets and proficiency scales, assessments, student self-monitoring, and feedback directly related to proficiency of the standards.
Standards-based Reporting: Achievement level based on mastery of essential standards—a grading system where scores denote progress toward the understanding of a specific standard. Summative Assessment: An evaluation tool designed to show information about a student’s achievement at the end of a period of instruction.
4.0 Rubric: A grading tool used to provide feedback on an identified learning goal. The score signifies the knowledge a student has towards that learning goal. It moves from simple (2.0) to more complex (3.0) with a score of 4.0 requiring synthesis and analysis or performance above the grade-level target. A score of 3.0 is the proficient level of the targeted learning goal.