Standards-Based Education

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Standards-Based Education

• By Chris Garland, Julie Gay and Kim Tooley

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Prominence in United States

• -Standards-Based Education became prominent in
  the late 1980s and 1990s
• -this reform movement calls for clear, measurable
  standards for all students
• -a standards-based system measures each student
  against a concrete standard instead of against
  each other
• -all states, except Iowa, have developed a set of
  educational standards for students

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Philosophical Base

• -Standards-based education began in the 1980s and
  early 1990s as Outcome Based Education
• -education reform model that has a student
  centered philosophy that focuses on measuring
  student outcomes
• -also known as mastery education or
  performance-based education

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Core Goals of SBE programs

• -the creation of curriculum frameworks which
  outline specific knowledge or skills which
  students must acquire
• -an emphasis on criterion-referenced assessments
  which are aligned to the frameworks
• -the imposition of some high-stakes tests, such
  as graduation examinations requiring a high
  standard of performance to receive a diploma

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Intention

• The vision of the standards-education movement is
  that every student will receive a meaningful high
  school diploma that serves essentially as a
  public guarantee that they can read, write, and
  do basic mathematics.
• -NO student then regardless of poverty, race,
  gender, cultural or ethnic background,
  disabilities, or family situation will be exempt
  from learning the required material, although it
  is acknowledged that individual students may
  learn in different ways and at different ways
• -Ultimately the vision is the backbone of NCLB

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Initial Action

• In 1994 Congress passed the Goals 2000 Educate
  America Act
• -this was the beginning of the Standards-Based
  Education push in the US
• -this act enacted the education goals into law
  and provided resources for the development of
  standards and assessments
• -suggestions for implementing standards-based
  education reform were as followed
• Conduct ongoing research on standards-based
  education reform
• Establish a national organization to communicate
  SBE efforts across the nation
• Address systemic inequities

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Standards-Based Ed. Programs

• -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
• -criterion-references tests based on these
  standards rather than norm-based rankings
  (comparing students)
• -a requirement that attention be paid to
  narrowing academic gaps between groups such as
  races, income or gender
• -consistently communicates and uses standards to
  focus on ways to ensure success for all students
• -uses assessment to inform instruction on a
  continually and consistent basis

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Components 2

• Standards-based education has assessment as a key
  part of the movement
• -the first part is to set new, higher standards
  to be expected of EVERY student
• -a criterion is set up for what EVERY student is
  expected to know and a score is set compared to
  those benchmarks
• -thus curriculum must be aligned with the new
  standards
• -students must then be assessed based on what is
  expected of EVERY student
• -gauges individual student progress

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Components 3

• It is fully expected that every child will become
  proficient in all areas of academic skills by the
  end of a specified period
• -typically within 10 years in the United States,
  but sometimes longer, after the passing of an
  education reform bill by a state government
• -such as in the US with the No Child Left Behind
  legislation that further requires that all
  schools must demonstrate improvements among all
  students, even if all students in the school are
  all already above the proficient level

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Differences Between Standards-Based and
Norm-References Systems

• NORM REFERENCED
• -Believe some students are naturally smarter than
  others
• -Content subject matter varies with different
  groups of students
• -Assessments compare what students know to what
  other students know
• -No objective criteria to distribute resources so
  students who need the most often get the least
• -Professional development tend to be one time
  workshops

• STANDARDS-BASED
• -Believe virtually all students can get smart
  through effort
• -Subject matter is the same for all groups of
  students
• -Assessments compare what students know to
  standards and benchmarks
• -Resources are distributed as needed for all to
  meet standards so students who need more get more
• -Professional development focuses on improving
  instruction so all students meet standards

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Advantages

• Students are compared to standards
• Humans, not computers evaluate the value of
  responses on assessments
• A criterion-based test is worth teaching to
• Only a standards based test is aligned with
  standards-based education reform
• Ensures that all students will graduate with the
  skills they need to succeed in the 21st century
• Students will no longer be cheated by passing
  them on to the next grade with obtaining the
  knowledge that is needed at each grade level
• No longer will schools produce graduates that
  cannot read their own diplomas

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Lingering Impacts

• NCLB
• End of Course Exams
• Common Assessments
• Backwards Design
• MAP test in Missouri
• Assessment Driven Instruction
• Assessment for Learning

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Standards-Based Education

• When all students pass all standards, as is the
  central belief of standards-based education
  reform, all students will achieve the same test
  score, eliminating the mysterious achievement gap
  which has previously been shown to occur between
  all groups on tests

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Three Critical Components

• Standards based reporting and formative
  assessment
• Ensuring effective teaching in every classroom
• Enhancing the academic background knowledge of
  students who do not have advantaged backgrounds

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Robert Marzano Classroom Assessment and Grading

• Marzano, along with a few others are leading the
  nation in the standards based movement and
  grading.
• Marzano believes that every child can learn and
  be proficient with a system that measure specific
  performance based off of specific criteria

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Marzano Consequences of Performance Based System

• Students do not have to figure out the rules from
  teacher to teacher.
• To catch up or move ahead at an accelerated pace,
  students do not have to spend a specific amount
  of time in class. Rather, they must demonstrate
  competence in important content.
• There are fewer dropouts and more students
  completing graduation.

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Marzano

• Research shows that good teaching begins with
  clear learning goals.
• Goals are the reason classroom activities are
  designed. Without clear goals, classroom
  activities are without direction. Researchers
  Joseph Krajcik, Katherine McNeill, and Brian
  Reiser (2007) explain that good teaching begins
  with clear learning goals from which teachers
  select appropriate instructional activities and
  assessments that help determine students
  progress on the learning goals.
• Marzano, R. (2009). Designing teaching learning
  goals objectives (p. 4). Bloomington, IN
  Marzano Research Laboratory.

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Guskeys Research

• To make a real difference for students, learning
  standards and performance assessments must become
  an integral part of the instructional process at
  the classroom level.

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Guskey

• Two fundamental questions
• 1. What do I want students to learn?
• 2. What evidence would I accept to verify their
  learning?

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Guskey

• Ensures that assessments become an integral part
  of the instructional process.
• Quizzes and tests should be learning tools
• Not simply evaluation devices that mark the end
  of learning
• They are tools that start and continue the
  learning process

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Guskey and Marzano

• With proper assessments that are scored from a
  rubric or specific set of criteria, prescriptive
  and corrective instruction occurs increasing
  student learning and closing achievement gaps.

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Stiggins and Chappuis Assessment of and for
Learning

• Orientation for thinking
• The key gap between those who meet and dont
  meet standards
• All students must meet standards for our society
  to evolve productively.
• Assessment, as previously conceived and
  conducted, has sustained the gap.
• Nevertheless, assessment can become the most
  powerful narrower..

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Stiggins and Chappuis Assessment of and for
Learning

• Clear learning targets
• Formative and summative assessment, along with
  student self assessment
• prescriptive and corrective teaching
• The students emotional reaction to results will
  determine what that student does in response.

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Guskey, Marzano, Stiggins, and Chappuis

• All believe that standards based learning,
  formative and summative assessments, student self
  evaluation, and prescriptive and corrective
  teaching will close learning gaps moving students
  to higher achievement.

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Stiggins and Chappuis Assessment of and for
Learning

• Essential Actions
• Balance assessments
• Refine standards
• Assure assessment quality
• Turn learners into assessors
• Rethink feedback strategies
• Build on learner success
• Assure assessment literacy

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Stiggins and Chappuis Assessment of and for
Learning

• Essential Question
• How do you close the achievement gap without
  quality classroom assessment effectively used to
  support learning?

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Discussion Prompts

• Many districts and schools are facing the
  implications of NCLB. Discuss with your group
  some of the challenges your school or district is
  facing and how state standards factor into the
  results of NCLB.
• Reflect on your district since you have been
  there. Discuss with your group how the trends in
  education/standards-based reform have changed the
  culture of instruction within your district or
  building.
• When looking at district, school or classroom
  data, discuss how the standards based movement
  has helped shape the framework for Professional
  Learning communities and ensuring the success of
  the individual child.