Standards

Definition of Standards: Standards-based education is a process for planning, delivering, monitoring and improving academic programs in which clearly defined academic content standards provide the basis for content in instruction and assessment.

What do Standards do?
 * Standards help ensure students learn what is important, rather than allowing textbooks to dictate classroom practice.
 * They also ensure that student learning is the focus - aiming for a high and deep level of student understanding that goes beyond traditional textbook-based or lesson-based instruction.

What does a standards based system do ?
 * measures its success based on student learning (the achievement of standards) rather than compliance with rules and regulations.
 * aligns policies, initiatives, curriculum, instruction, and assessments with clearly defined academic standards.
 * consistently communicates and uses standards to focus on ways to ensure success for all students.
 * uses assessment to ensure instruction.

Why do students generally learn better in a standards-based environment?
 * everybody's working towards the same goal.
 * Teachers know what the standards are and choose classroom activities and teaching strategies that enable students to achieve the standards.
 * Students know the standards, too, and can see scoring guides that embody them. The students can use them to complete their work.
 * Parents know them and can help students by seeing that their homework aligns with the standards.
 * Administrators know what is necessary to attain the standards and provide professional development, resources and materials to ensure that students are able to reach the prescribed standards.

[|WIkipedia Source] [|Elementary and Secondary School Source]


 * Standards began with the publication of //A Nation At Risk// in 1983
 * In 1989, an education summit created national education goals for the year 2000 and these the goals included content standards.
 * Advocates of traditional education believe it is not realistic to expect all students to perform at the same level as the best students, nor to punish students simply because they do not perform as well as the most academically talented

SAS (Standards aligned system)
 * The PA SAS is a collaborative product of research and good practice that identifies six distinct elements which, if utilized together, will provide schools and districts a common framework for continuous school and district enhancement and improvement.
 * Its purpose is to keep all school districts in PA in the loop with what is going on. By using common elements that become universal to these schools, it is much easier for school districts to grow and improve.
 * The six components:
 * Standards: describe what students should know and be able to do as a result of instruction. These standards challenge students to exceed beyond what is required. If they didn't have standards, they wouldn't know what was expected of them and therefore wouldn't want to succeed.
 * Assessment:is a process used by teachers and students before, during, and after instruction to provide feedback and adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve student achievement and to provide appropriate challenge for all students at their instructional levels. This helps both students and teachers see what they are excelling in and what they need to work on.
 * Curriculum Framework: This provides teachers with a basis of what needs to be taught and how it needs to be taught. This ensures that all students are recieving the same information. The goal of the standards are then connected into what exaclty needs be be learned in the subject areas.
 * Instruction: provides a model for teachers including the four important principles of :planning and preparation, classroom environment, instruction, and professional responsibilities so they know what is expected.
 * Materials and Resources: combine different teaching methods with different topics in education to best fit the needs of the students in that specific class, not what is easiest for the teacher.
 * Safe and Supportive Schools: If students feel comfortable and safe, they are more likely to actively participate in their education.