Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Standards provide a common expectation of specific content and skill that should be
mastered by the end of a course. By providing a framework that guides instruction, standards are
intended to prevent a teacher from walking into the classroom and just randomly teaching
(Zimny, 2016). Standardized tests can be used as a tool to measure student achievement and
provide reliable data that will all teachers to modify their instruction to support student
understandings. Yet, during my early teaching years this was not true at my school site. The
data was not used to improve student achievement but as an indicator of the teachers ability. I
feared the standardized tests and stressed daily if I was going to be able to cover all the content
that might be on the test. Minimal time was used for practicing necessary analytical and critical
thinking skills because this was not required to perform well on the test. The curriculum really
was defined by the 60 questions that would be on the standardized test. Despite ample
evidence of the flaws, biases and inaccuracies of standardized exams, federal policies have
pressured schools to use tests to measure student learning and teacher quality and impose
sanctions based on test scores (Schaeffer, 2007). I viewed standards as restricted guidelines
rather than a clear expectation of content and skills all students should master. If the students did
not perform well on the standardized test then I was not an effective teacher.
My view on the role of standards in education has changed. During this course I had the
opportunity to identify standards relevant to student achievement and analyze how standards are
measured. I no longer fear standards but understand the importance of having meaningful,
Standards provide a backbone for instructional planning (Zimny, 2016). Standards provide a
way to measure students learning and identify successes and barriers. The clarity in the
standards is necessary to provide the appropriate adaptive feedback to the student in a timely
fashion about what content and or skills that need to be further practiced to gain mastery. I can
provide clear, constructive feedback so the student is able to understand the specific content and
skills that need improvement to be able to demonstrate a proficient level of learning. According
to Vorster (2011), we need to focus more on our students and on how we can encourage them to
become independent learners than on our command of the teaching process (p. 921). Students
should understand the expectations of the content and skills that they will be assessed on.
Educators send students strong messages about what is important by the ways in which they
assess student success in learning (Moon & Callahan, 2001, p.57). Learning is a process and
requires time and practice. The goal is to shift from a performance mindset to a growth mindset
where the student focuses on their own mastery of the content and skills.
driven learning and assessment. Assessment is more than determining if students learn what
educators intend for them to learn, but assessment also involves improving both future
instruction and student learning (Bishop, Grubesic & Parrish, 2015, p.273). Students have
daily instructional lessons provide opportunities for students to practice the skills of the standard,
understand the knowledge, collaborate with their peers and receive feedback from their teacher
before their final assessment. Providing the students with a quality rubric that clearly states the
exact expectations and requirements of the standard-driven assessment early on will encourage
student responsibility and ensure that all students have the same opportunity to be successful.
The expectations should mirror the standards as well be specific in how to achieve proficiency.
The end product will demonstrate the level of understanding of the standard(s) as well as provide
valid and reliable information to the student through constructive feedback and to the teacher
Application of Standards
By focusing on what students need to know, understand, and be able to do, teachers are
more aware of what to teach (Moon & Callahan, 2001, p.52). Unpacking the standards is a
strategy that has been useful with adjusting the curriculum to support student achievement.
Unpacking the standards allow educators to identify the big ideas, enduring understandings,
essential questions, skills and content (Zimny, 2016). Effective delivery of the standards
requires a deep understanding of the value of the standard as well as the ability to show the
students the relevancy of the standard through multiple sources so each student has an equal
student achievement in the core academic courses. PLCs are characterized by collaborative
processes centered on closely examining evidence about student learning and making links
across teaching, learning goals, and student thinking (Nelson, LeBard & Waters, 2010). The
needs of students can be identified quickly because the defined and clear content and skills of
each standards when the standards are unpacked. The PLC collaborates to select a new strategy
or intervention based off of reliable data when students do not demonstrate mastery of standard.
Interdisciplinary project can be more focused and effective when cross-cutting concepts and
skills across disciplines are identified through unpacking the standards. Currently the scheduling
of the students also makes it difficult for teacher collaboration in a grade-level (PLC) or on an
IDP. Students from different grades are in the same class and the majority of the teachers teach
embodies the application of a variety of methods that place the student at the center of
education (Altay, B., 2014, p.140). Learner-centered teaching (LCT) establishes a community
of learners with the goal of actively engaging the individual during the process of learning. The
use multiple instructional approaches alongside diverse and relevant learning experiences
addresses the unique characteristics of individual learners. Thoughtful grouping of the students
is important for the learning community to be successful as a whole. The grouping of the
learning community at my school would be based upon the students industry pathway choice:
performing arts or visual, media and digital design. Students would rotate among their academic
core in their learning community. The content and experiences of each learning community
emulate what is expected of the students in the arts industry. The goal is to engage and motivate
Success of these strategies will measured three ways: the percent of students passing
their a-g courses with a C or better, learning journals and an IDP. A common rubric developed
by the PLC will be used to assess the IDP. The function of the standards based assessments is
to promote success, not to merely identify success and failure (Reeves, 2001, p.9). Students
will receive timely, constructive feedback with an opportunity to resubmit to demonstrate growth
and understanding.
teachers investigate beyond the reported test scores and analyze student answers according to
mastery levels (Zimny, 2016). Standards provide a way to determine if students are learning
content and skills. Scores on standardized tests help determine how to assist students with
learning barriers by indicating which standards they need additional help with. My instruction
can become more effective when it is adapted and differentiated based on the skills and content
concerned with the correlation between the score and teacher capabilities. The knowledge
gained during this course will allow me to be able to focus my instruction daily using the
The support and encouragement for teachers to take the initiative and address student
achievement is evident at my school site. However, due to the size of the school and with so
much responsibility bestowed upon each faculty member along with multiple preps very few
teachers if any have the time to volunteer. The success of site-based managed schools
frequently depends upon the willingness of teachers to work with their colleagues in taking
responsibility and directing activities of the school (Kurtz, 2009, p.13). Improving student
achievement should not be left to one individual teacher because it will not be effective due to
the obvious work that is necessary to address this student achievement. As mentioned earlier, a
collaborative effort is required for success to be considered. Without a teacher taking a lead the
work towards this goal will not have staying power. The deep understanding of the standards
gained during this course as well as the opportunity to practice analyzing the School
Accountability Report Card (SARC) data, I feel confident that I can form a PLC that addresses
appropriate strategy to be selected and support provided so that the work towards improving
student achievement makes an impact. Teachers can express that they are inexperienced with
collaboration and indicate the level of support that is required. The lack of buy-in from the staff
could simply be due to lack of experience and knowledge of how to collaborate successfully. I
will take the lead on this goal and guide the staff through this instructional shift towards
Two activities that each PLC will be accountable for will be regular data analysis and
force field analysis to create realistic goals about how to improve student achievement. Yet, the
success of a PLC depends upon the focus. I will provide professional development on how to be
part of a PLC. I will use a power point that was created during the teacher leadership course at
ACE. The power point will provide the information about to effectively participate with a single
focus: student achievement. Information about how to complete a force field analysis will be
provided as well as practiced with the faculty to ensure that the process is understood and
completed correctly. The force field analysis allows each PLC to focus on barriers within their
control that they can eliminate to promote student achievement. As a staff, we will review how
to locate the SARC and how to effectively use the date to address student achievement.
Information about how to unpack the standards will help grade-level PLCs develop common
assessments and cross-cutting concepts to focus on will be provided as well. The information
will be provided over a series of meetings and all the information will be located so that it can be
easily accessed as a resource. Grade-level PLCs will share out at monthly faculty meetings to
Bishop, B. W., Grubesic, T. H., & Parrish, T. (2015). Collaborative development and assessment
of student learning outcomes for LIS electives. Journal Of Education For Library &
Dichter, A., & Zydney, J., M., (2015). Net results: Online Protocols Boost Group Learning
Moon, T. R. & Callahan, C. M. (2001). Classroom performance assessment: what should it look
Principals: NASSP Bulletin, 85, (622), 48-57. Retrieved April 12, 2016
to an external site.)
url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/216043443?accountid=31683
Schaeffer, R. (2007). How standardized testing damages education. Retrieved from April 16,
Vorster, M.C. (2011). Teaching and learning: The critical balance in effective education. Journal
Zimny, Judy (2016). Why Standards Matter. (Video Module 1, Part 3, Course CI5353: Standard-