Archive
component:what.standards
What Proficiency-based Grading Means for Your Student
The new Standards-Based grading system currently used throughout the U.S. education system is significantly different from the letter-grade system that most parents grew up with. This system is designed to allow high-achieving students to progress more rapidly through the curriculum, and ensure that all students reach a certain lower bound of proficiency. Each student's level of achievement can be measured, and the over-all degree of learning advancement attained by the entire class can also be more accurately determined.
Avoid Hit-or-Miss Professional Development
As a former principal and curriculum director, I can easily tell the difference between good and bad professional development. I’m embarrassed to admit that I have had my hand in delivering some poor quality events in my career. Some of my colleagues refer to past trainings as a “spray and pray” approach to learning something.
Q&A: It’s About Time For Proficiency-Based Learning
Diane Smith for the Business Education Compact (BEC) released "It's About Time: A Framework For Proficiency-Based Teaching & Learning" this year in response to a need expressed by the Oregon Department of Education (ODE), which identifies the ways that eliminating seat time and moving toward proficiency-based teaching and learning can improve student achievement.
Common Core: A Platform for Achievement & Innovation
We've tried to avoid presidential politics here, but some comments about the federal role in education this week (covered well by K-12 Politics ) suggested the need to reiterate the importance of common standards and the constructive role that the federal government and national organizations can play.
Quick Guide to the Common Core: Key Common Core Expectations Explained – Mathematics
A lot of people (including some educators) have a lot of anxiety about math: How do we teach it? How do we learn it? How do we remember it all and use it correctly in real life? Math actually is a logical, accessible, and useful subject, but not enough people know or experience that.
Competency-Based Progress
Susan Patrick, iNACOL (where I'm a director) and Chris Sturgis teamed up on a great new site, CompetencyWorks. While the shift to digital is key, and extending the reach of great teachers is important, the shift from age-cohorts to to a show-what-you-know system will prove to be the most profound--and challenging--educational change of our time. That's why the conversation and community on CompetencyWorks is so important.
Quick Guide to the Common Core: Key Expectations Explained
Since the Common Core State Standards were introduced, there has been much discussion about what they mean for educators and students and how they will impact teaching and learning. While the standards have been adopted by 45 states and 3 territories so far, there is a lot of concern, anxiety, and debate around what is best for students, potential challenges for teachers, and what implementation should and can look like.
Curriculum Associates Releases New ‘Ready’ Program For Common Core
Curriculum Associates, LLC, has introduced an all-new print program to ensure student success on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Built specifically for the new standards and using the language of the CCSS, Ready™ Common Core offers students in grades 3–8 rigorous instruction and practice in math and reading while also offering teachers multilevel resources and tools to easily implement these lessons.
Common Core: Blended Learning Solves Math
The two Common Core assessment consortia, Smarter Balanced and PARCC, have both recently released material giving us an insight into the upcoming Common Core math tests.
Something In Common: The Common Core Standards
Robert Rothman wrote the first definitive book on new national standards last year:Something in Common: The Common Core Standards and the Next Chapter in American Education. It provides a history of what, with new online assessments, will prove to frame the next decade of American education.