Qualities of a Good Standard

1. Qualities of a Good Standard October 8, 2004

2. Are your students prepared for the rigors of the 21st Century? • American Diploma Project Benchmarks • Convened postsecondary faculty and employers • Elicited “must have” math and English competencies for credit-bering freshman coursework

3. Take manufacturing, for example. . .

4. Requirements for tool and die makers • Four or five years of apprenticeship and/or postsecondary training • Algebra, geometry, trigonometry and statistics • Average earnings: $40,000 per year

5. Requirements for sheet metal workers • Four or five years of apprenticeship • Algebra geometry, trigonometry and technical reading

6. Other Possible Measures of Rigor and Comprehensiveness • National Reading Panel Report • NCTM Standards • Keeping America Competitive from the National Association of Manufacturers • Learning for the 21st Century, from the AOL Time Warner Foundation • State’s K-12 concepts and skills

7. Qualities of a Good Standard • Rigorous • Measurable • Specific • Clear and intelligible • Useful • Manageable • Comprehensive and coherent

8. Hard to Measure Verbs • Verbs that measure “internal processes”: activate prior knowledge, develop mental pictures, and monitor one’s comprehension. • Verbs that describe the process of learning: investigate, examine, practice, develop, explore, participate, read, listen. • Verbs that cannot be measured precisely: introduce,increase, expand, extend, begin, continue, improve.

9. Not Measurable • Students exhibit curiosity and the habit of lifelong learning. • Students find satisfaction in computing with numbers and make those activities part of their everyday lives. • Students use integers intuitively.

10. Not Measurable (not tied to content) • Students demonstrate the ability to think critically, creatively and reflectively in making decisions and solving problems. • Students use imagination freely and effectively use a variety of complex reasoning processes, including comparing, classifying, analyzing, investigating, and abstracting.

11. Too Specific (Activity Level) • Students gather and analyze data from the neighborhood and compare the data with published statistics for the city, state, or nation. • Students create a mathematical real life situation using functions and predict how it is affected by changes in information.

12. Jargon, Unintelligible • Students apply algebraic and geometric concepts to multiple problem-solving strategies for problems derived from real world situations using a variety of problem-solving strategies.

13. Jargon, Unintelligible • Students demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the variables influencing the effectiveness of the components of the communication process.

14. Useful? • Students express confusion and a lack of understanding.

15. Failure To Demonstrate A Proper Progression Of Learning (Not Coherent): • Use a wide range of strategies to comprehend text (such as posing and answering questions, trial and error, adjusting reading pace). (Level 4) • Use a wide range of strategies to comprehend text. (Level 5) • Use a wide range of strategies to comprehend text (such as brainstorming and question formulation techniques) (Level 6)

16. Another example of lack of progression: • Recall prior knowledge. • Actively apply prior knowledge. • Evaluate prior knowledge. • Integrate prior knowledge.

17. Weak, General Standard • Students read challenging texts written by different authors.

18. Strong, Specific Standard • Students evaluate public documents for the power and logic of the arguments advanced; the author’s insight and foundations of support; the use of persuasive techniques; and the appeal to audiences both friendly and hostile to the position presented.

19. Strong, Specific Standard • Students draw conclusions about the ways in which the content (i.e., key themes, patterns, and ideas) of significant works of literature reflects the perspective of the author and the era during which he or she lived.

20. Weak, General Standard • Students use the correct forms of personal and public writing for a variety of purposes and audiences.

21. Strong, Specific Standard • Students write a persuasive essay that contains an engaging introductory and clincher statement; presents a definite point of view; and fully develops the view with powerful and pertinent facts, evidence, arguments, and descriptions.

22. Weak, General Standard • Students represent and solve problems using geometric models.

23. Strong, Specific Standard • Students understand and apply the basic geometric concepts of parallel and perpendicular lines, and explain how their slopes are related.

24. Weak, General Standard • Students know how to measure geometric objects.

25. Strong, Specific Standard • Students know, use, and derive formulas for the perimeter, circumference, area, surface area and volume of many types of figures including cubes, pyramids, cylinders, cones, and spheres.

26. Weak, General Standard • Students use rational numbers to solve problems. Strong, Specific Standard Students select and use appropriate forms of rational numbers to solve rate, ratio and proportion problems (e.g., percent mixtures, unit rates, speed, scale drawings, similar triangles).

27. Weak, General Standard • Students collect, organize, and describe a set of data.

28. Strong, Specific Standard • Students collect, organize, and describe single-variable data choosing appropriate frequency distributions, circle graphs, line plots, histograms, and summary statistics.

29. Exercise Take the next hour to evaluate a set of standards using the criteria that has been prepared for you.