Possibly the major challenge in education is that of people talking past one another, and by that I mean people using the same terms but meaning different things. The solution is of course to agree on terms and definitions before any discussion, but, well, you know ... My point today concerns standards-based education, ie defining a standard, preparing students to meet or to exceed that standard and then assessing whether they do, (ie pass / fail) or by how much (ie grades). This prompts the question, "what is a standard?".
Whether students are properly prepared for college often appears in the news and inevitably, those discussing this have differing views on what such preparation means. Apart from study skills, time management, managing money and credit and doing laundry, many or most focus on academic preparation. This is not as clear and simple as many think.
Should students know stuff? The names of the presidents, the capitals of various countries, the number of angels on the head of a pin. Should students be able to do, demonstrate or apply things? Measure, weigh, describe. Should students have certain values or "habits of heart and mind"? Respect, grit, executive function? What about the more nebulous abilities to "think", to "draw conclusions", to "imagine"?
Each of these has arguments for and against and in general terms should be left to the institution, faculty or course to define. Once defined, then they should be measured and this is of course a standard : something observable and measurable, or in government-speak "deliverable".
A standard is of course an outcome or an input and not a curriculum or a methodology. A standard such as "count to 100" is clear, simple and unambiguous and how a teacher prepares his/her students to be able to do that is of course the professional autonomy necessary for an effective teacher. In this way, s/he can select approaches, adjust pacing or to choose topics or themes to package the standard.
A standard with a constraint can be even more discriminating :
- Count to 100 without pause or hesitation.
- Count to 100 without prompting.
- Count to 100 without errors.
- Count to 100 in 120 seconds or fewer.
Or with grades attached :
- Count to 100 without pause or hesitation = A
- Count to 100 with 5 or fewer pauses or hesitations = B
- Count to 100 with 6 - 10 pauses or hesitations = C
- Count to 100 with 11 - 20 pauses or hesitations = D
- Count to 100 with 21 or more pauses or hesitations = E
- Unable to count to 100 = E
Once the standard has been met or exceeded, the next standard comes into play :
- Count to 1000
and so on.
Standards-based education is teacher-friendly as it leads to both formal and informal assessment, the fact that a standard is constructed around an active verb suggests activities and approaches and standards can both be neutral or tied to a specific content area :
- Define the life-cycle of a volcano using technical terminology studied in class appropriately and accurately
Standards-based education is learner-friendly as it makes clear what is expected both in terms of targets, aka "learning objectives", and assessment, aka "performance criteria".
Most importantly, standards-based education makes it clear to the community and in this case to colleges and universities, what is expected and what has been achieved. Stories such as this reflect that colleges need something in terms of a student's entry profile, however schools either do not know what that is or are not preparing a student in that light.
A great example is a typical college requirement of three APs with grades of 5 or SAT of 1400, while what they really want is the ability to read, analyze and interpret complex texts, or to reframe a fraction as a percentage! High School Diplomas mostly reflect time spent in class and courses taken rather than any specific standards being met. Should the next step be it college, vocational school or direct employment have its entry requirements expressed in the form of standards, this will directly and immediately impact school-level education with teacher-friendly, learner-friendly and community-friendly improvement.
**Please leave your comments and questions below.**
Further reading
www.chronicle.com/article/to-help-students-colleges-are-dropping-remedial-courses-will-that-backfire/
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