Curricular Foundations of Education

1. Curricular Foundations of Education Standards-Based Education and Assessment

2. Standards-Based Education • Proficiencies: knowledge, skills, or dispositions that students are expected to acquire in order to meet a set of standards • Not what teachers should teach, but what students should know and be able to do…all students to construct, integrate, and apply their knowledge

3. Standards • Standards to determine curriculum, the use of multiple assessments of student learning to determine learning • Standards-based education is a systemic approach to the entire teaching and learning process…the entire school system is driven and linked by a set of standards that the entire education community endorses.

4. Differing Conceptions of Standards • World-class standards: meant to inspire students to do better over time…curriculum as a developmental process…the high levels of performance necessary to be competitive at individual and international levels • Real-world standards…that will make students employable and enable them to live independent lives

5. Standards • Discipline-based/content standards…that specify learning outcomes in a subject or discipline • No Child Left Behind (NCLB) standards…requires all states to set standards for what a child should know and learn for all grades in mathematics, reading, and science…and to set a level of proficiency to determine whether students meet them

6. Standards • World class……………..real world • Ideal………………………practical • Developmental………absolute • Discipline-based……….generic • Teacher centered…..student centered • National………………..…local • Broad in scope……..narrow and specific • Teacher…………………student • Inputs………………………..outputs

7. Types of Standards • Content standards…knowledge that should be learned in various subject areas…grade level benchmarks linked to “big ideas” themes or conceptual strands that should be nurtured throughout a student’s career • Performance standards…statements about what a student or a teacher should be able to do…combinations of knowledge and skills… “how will we know they understand?” • Opportunity-to-learn standards…supports and resources by the district and community

8. Assessment: The Other Side of Standards • Assessment implies many things: evaluation, grades, tests, performances, criteria, rubrics • Purpose of assessment…ultimately to help students learn • Rubrics…scoring guides that describe what learners should know and be able to do at different levels of competence

9. Assessment • Formative assessment…collection of data to show what a student has learned in order to determine instruction required next • Summative assessment…data about student performance that are used to make a judgment about a grade, promotion to the next grade, graduation, college entrance, etc. • Diagnosis…used to determine at what level a student is functioning as compared to the level s/he should be able to function developmentally

10. Traditional Assessments • Competency-based • Norm referenced…compared with a norm group of similar individuals…do not reveal all a person knows or is able to do • Criterion-referenced…compare a student’s performance with a specific type of accomplishment or criterion

11. Types of Performance Assessments • Learning logs and journals • Folios and portfolios • Interviews • Observation and anecdotal records • Student products and projects • Videotapes/audiotapes

12. Rubrics • A scoring guide…often associated with performance assessments • Analytic…means looking at each dimension of the performance and scoring each • Holistic…refers to considering all criteria simultaneously and making one overall evaluation

13. Designing authentic performance assessments • Selecting a proper context • Stuffing the context with multiple opportunities • Asking different types of questions • Assessing the important elements

14. Principles for high-quality assessments • Base assessments on standards for learning • Represent performances of understanding in authentic ways • Embed assessments in curriculum and instruction • Provide multiple forms of evidence about student learning • Evaluate standards without unnecessary standardization • Involve local educators, provide professional development

15. Accountability • High-stakes testing • Pressures to cheat • Teaching to the test • One-size-fits-all • The threats of a national exam • Increased teacher burden