I have been teaching English for 14 years and I can say that standards are terrifying. In those 14 years, I have been asked to evaluate and reevaluate at least seven different collections of standards: New York State Standards, Common Core Standards, Priority Learning Standards, Learning Maps, Next Generation Standards, Advanced Placement Standards, Regents Standards. While I idealistically like to believe that each evolution of standards has gotten educators closer to closing the achievement gap presented in A Nation at Risk (1983), the standards continuously fail to show educators how to use them.
Over time, I have come to understand that a major part of developing and designing an effective curriculum is first deconstructing the standards for students. While this may seem obvious, most of the conversations I have had with students around standards relate back to rote memorization and regurgitation. “The teacher told me to ‘Examine and analyze what makes a claim valid by determining if supporting evidence is relevant and sufficient” (Priority Learning Standard R7 & 8, 11th-12th grade English). Great. What does that mean?
Blank stare.
Unless students are able to specifically understand what the standards are asking them to do, they cannot properly perform the task to our expectations. This is what creates achievement gaps.
We hand back an assignment with a grade, probably even a standards-aligned rubric, circle the parts we thought were ineffective, the student looks at the grade, the circles, then the grade, and makes a decision whether to shrug and accept it or “argue” with the teacher.
I put the term “argue” in quotation marks because this is also part of the issue: The perception of the teacher is that he/she is being questioned on his/her authority as an educator based on the assessment.
Isn’t that ironic? Teachers question the ability of the student based on their performance of the assessment, and we don’t view that as presumptive or judgemental. Yet, did we provide masterful examples of the assessment… some by students, and one definitely by us? Were our directions absolutely clear? Did we outline and explain the standards in language where students could clearly understand and articulate success?
Instead, we must view these conversations as ways for us to reassess how we teach standards. And yes, I mean we actually have to teach the standards.
Image from Assessing with Respect by Starr Sackstein*
UNPACK THE STANDARDS
The first question is - What standards do I use if they are always changing? What I’ve done is taken the most recent few published standards and find their similarities: The specific skills, content, and learning targets. I started by reading the standards to look for repetitive language which could be confusing. This year, I’ve translated it to these Power Standards and Learning Targets which I believe best apply to my specific course, a 12th-grade college-level course called “Gods, Monsters, and the Apocalypse.”
As I craft an assessment (or learning task) that addresses Priority Learning Standards R7 & 8, I must first make sure students understand what “Examine and analyze what makes a claim valid by determining if supporting evidence is relevant and sufficient” means. I’ve noticed that educators toss around the word analyze with the expectation that this concept is clear. It’s not. Every time the standards address the word “analyze” (and that’s 23 references in the Priority Learning Standards for ELA), we are asking students to examine details to elicit meaning.
I can translate it to: “Students will investigate the information being presented in a claim to ensure it justifies the main argument with details.” Essentially, how will a student know he/she has been successful at this specific task?
The best way to work on this is to be mindful of your own steps while you perform the task. (And yes, you should always perform your own assessments to ensure your directions are crystal clear.) Write every single step down. (More on this in the How Does This Work section.)
When Designing a Learning Task
HOW DOES THIS WORK?
Whether co-constructed or teacher-constructed, a student must have the ability to knowledgeably speak to the standards being addressed in the learning task when discussing his/her own level of mastery of the topic. This is the ultimate goal that drives independent learning. If the student cannot understand what the criteria for success are, then he/she will probably have difficulty understanding your feedback. This is where you’ll find yourself giving the same feedback over and over again.
Math Example of How This Works
Peter Dellegrazie, a mathematics teacher, offers an example of how he uses Success Criteria in his daily formative assessments for Algebra II:
The Task: Draw a unit circle diagram rotating an angle through 60 degrees and determine the ordered pairs where the terminal ray intersects the circle.
As explained to me: “While [students] were working on an example, they had to find the ordered pairs where a 60-degree angle intersects a unit circle, so I set up the following [success criteria]:
If a student answers ‘no’ to any of these questions, we (teacher or classmate) know exactly where
the wheels came off.”
Peter’s example starts with standards: “Extend the domain of trigonometric functions using the unit circle” (Common Core).
I like to think of it as writing a recipe for baking. The completed cookie is the final outcome of your Project-Based Learning “summative assessment”, but all of the steps involved are the “formative assessments” used as the pathway to completion.
Identify and weigh out all of the materials. (Standard)
Combine wet ingredients. (Standard)
It’s a matter of process-thinking. What are all of the steps necessary to achieve success and complete the task?
These steps become elevated depending on the level and point in the curriculum. For English, in 9th or 10th grade, I may ask students to identify the imagery in a poem by looking at the language related to the five senses. For an 11th grade class, I may ask students to explain how the imagery in a poem elicits mood and tone by first asking them to identify the imagery by looking at the language related to the five senses before any other steps.
AM I DOING THIS RIGHT?
I cannot stress enough the importance of examples. I challenge you to complete your own learning task by following your own directions. Essentially, the success criteria should be step-by-step guidelines that allow students to clearly see the steps towards mastery (completion). As you’re working on your task, pretend you are a student doing this for the first time. Is it meaningful? Is it engaging? Do the steps lead to the final outcome? IS IT CLEAR?
As a final self-check, I like to ask my husband (who is not an educator), or my colleagues in other departments to look at my learning tasks and the success criteria I have outlined for it to see if they can understand.
But more importantly, I use my own process thinking to demonstrate how I work on the assessment. This is an example I used when I taught Macbeth to high school sophomores: Click Here. I gave them this document, I talked them through the document, and then I extended beyond by asking them to define their own success criteria for the different stages of the writing process.
EXTENDING BEYOND
Phase I: Students will need to be reflective of their work via the success criteria to understand what level of mastery they have attained. This requires time allotted within the learning process and task design to allow for student reflection. This can be student-to-self, student-to-student, or student-to-teacher, but eventually must become student-to-self so they can be independent learners.
Phase II: Once teachers have a full understanding of the success criteria for their own learning tasks, and students are able to be reflective, the next level would be to co-construct success criteria with students. At this level, the teacher already knows all of the different steps but is asking students to deconstruct the process to identify the steps for themselves.
THE GOAL
Ultimately, the goal of success criteria is to create a clear outline for students to be able to be reflective, independent learners. They should be able to identify their own areas of struggle so that they can look to you for strategies of improvement on those areas, or use inquiry to discover pathways to guide them towards ultimate success.
FROM STUDENTS
A few of my seniors took a minute to offer their perspectives on working with standards this year: Flipgrid Videos.
--------------------
*This is an affiliate link.
UNPACK THE STANDARDS
The first question is - What standards do I use if they are always changing? What I’ve done is taken the most recent few published standards and find their similarities: The specific skills, content, and learning targets. I started by reading the standards to look for repetitive language which could be confusing. This year, I’ve translated it to these Power Standards and Learning Targets which I believe best apply to my specific course, a 12th-grade college-level course called “Gods, Monsters, and the Apocalypse.”
As I craft an assessment (or learning task) that addresses Priority Learning Standards R7 & 8, I must first make sure students understand what “Examine and analyze what makes a claim valid by determining if supporting evidence is relevant and sufficient” means. I’ve noticed that educators toss around the word analyze with the expectation that this concept is clear. It’s not. Every time the standards address the word “analyze” (and that’s 23 references in the Priority Learning Standards for ELA), we are asking students to examine details to elicit meaning.
I can translate it to: “Students will investigate the information being presented in a claim to ensure it justifies the main argument with details.” Essentially, how will a student know he/she has been successful at this specific task?
- The student is able to identify the main argument (or claim).
- The student can identify and discern if the evidence supports the claim or if the evidence detracts from the claim.
- The student determines how many details and how in-depth the details need to be to make the argument sufficient.
The best way to work on this is to be mindful of your own steps while you perform the task. (And yes, you should always perform your own assessments to ensure your directions are crystal clear.) Write every single step down. (More on this in the How Does This Work section.)
When Designing a Learning Task
- Select the Priority Learning Standards to be addressed.
- Determine the content and skills embedded in the Priority Learning Standards.
- Construct the task to meet the Priority Learning Standards.
- Identify the theme or topic.
HOW DOES THIS WORK?
Whether co-constructed or teacher-constructed, a student must have the ability to knowledgeably speak to the standards being addressed in the learning task when discussing his/her own level of mastery of the topic. This is the ultimate goal that drives independent learning. If the student cannot understand what the criteria for success are, then he/she will probably have difficulty understanding your feedback. This is where you’ll find yourself giving the same feedback over and over again.
Math Example of How This Works
Peter Dellegrazie, a mathematics teacher, offers an example of how he uses Success Criteria in his daily formative assessments for Algebra II:
The Task: Draw a unit circle diagram rotating an angle through 60 degrees and determine the ordered pairs where the terminal ray intersects the circle.
As explained to me: “While [students] were working on an example, they had to find the ordered pairs where a 60-degree angle intersects a unit circle, so I set up the following [success criteria]:
- Can I draw a unit circle?
- Can I draw a 60-degree angle in standard position?
- Can I form a right triangle?
- Can I label the side lengths?
- Can I find the ordered pair where the angle intersects the circle?
- Can I connect this to the sine and cosine of 60 degrees?
If a student answers ‘no’ to any of these questions, we (teacher or classmate) know exactly where
the wheels came off.”
Peter’s example starts with standards: “Extend the domain of trigonometric functions using the unit circle” (Common Core).
I like to think of it as writing a recipe for baking. The completed cookie is the final outcome of your Project-Based Learning “summative assessment”, but all of the steps involved are the “formative assessments” used as the pathway to completion.
Identify and weigh out all of the materials. (Standard)
- I can identify different measuring tools. (Success criteria)
- I can identify and measure ¾ cup of brown sugar. (Success Criteria)
- I can identify and measure 1 cup of butter (Success Criteria)
- I can identify and measure 1 tablespoon of baking soda. (Success criteria)
Combine wet ingredients. (Standard)
- I can measure ¾ cup brown sugar. (Success criteria)
- I can measure 1 cup of butter. (Success criteria)
- I can keep the 1 tablespoon of baking soda to the side because it is not considered a wet ingredient.
- I can melt the butter and mix it with brown sugar. (Success criteria)
It’s a matter of process-thinking. What are all of the steps necessary to achieve success and complete the task?
These steps become elevated depending on the level and point in the curriculum. For English, in 9th or 10th grade, I may ask students to identify the imagery in a poem by looking at the language related to the five senses. For an 11th grade class, I may ask students to explain how the imagery in a poem elicits mood and tone by first asking them to identify the imagery by looking at the language related to the five senses before any other steps.
AM I DOING THIS RIGHT?
I cannot stress enough the importance of examples. I challenge you to complete your own learning task by following your own directions. Essentially, the success criteria should be step-by-step guidelines that allow students to clearly see the steps towards mastery (completion). As you’re working on your task, pretend you are a student doing this for the first time. Is it meaningful? Is it engaging? Do the steps lead to the final outcome? IS IT CLEAR?
As a final self-check, I like to ask my husband (who is not an educator), or my colleagues in other departments to look at my learning tasks and the success criteria I have outlined for it to see if they can understand.
But more importantly, I use my own process thinking to demonstrate how I work on the assessment. This is an example I used when I taught Macbeth to high school sophomores: Click Here. I gave them this document, I talked them through the document, and then I extended beyond by asking them to define their own success criteria for the different stages of the writing process.
EXTENDING BEYOND
Phase I: Students will need to be reflective of their work via the success criteria to understand what level of mastery they have attained. This requires time allotted within the learning process and task design to allow for student reflection. This can be student-to-self, student-to-student, or student-to-teacher, but eventually must become student-to-self so they can be independent learners.
Phase II: Once teachers have a full understanding of the success criteria for their own learning tasks, and students are able to be reflective, the next level would be to co-construct success criteria with students. At this level, the teacher already knows all of the different steps but is asking students to deconstruct the process to identify the steps for themselves.
THE GOAL
Ultimately, the goal of success criteria is to create a clear outline for students to be able to be reflective, independent learners. They should be able to identify their own areas of struggle so that they can look to you for strategies of improvement on those areas, or use inquiry to discover pathways to guide them towards ultimate success.
FROM STUDENTS
A few of my seniors took a minute to offer their perspectives on working with standards this year: Flipgrid Videos.
--------------------
*This is an affiliate link.
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