The Standards-Based Classroom

Book excerpt: Win big in the standards-based classroom! Standards-Based Learning (SBL) is NOT standardization. In fact, when we recognize the central purpose of SBL, which is to make learning the goal for all students, we can design systems and structures that are more personal, more flexible, and more engaging—for us and for our students. At its core, SBL simply asks us to organize our teaching and learning around three questions. These questions guide the creation of targets, the development of assessments, the instructional planning, and the systems to communicate learning. • Where do we want our learners to go? • How do we know where our learners are in relation to where we want them to go? • How do we move them from where they are towards or beyond where we want them to be? While simple at the core, the transition to a standards-based classroom is anything but. The complexity comes in the implementation, the integration into existing systems, and the difficult task of moving away from what’s most comfortable. The Standards-Based Classroom provides practical strategies and steps based on many years of both failures and successes to support educators during this transition to a standards-based system. The accessible and concrete examples, tools, and templates in the book can be adapted into any classroom. Teachers who are new to SBL will understand the parts, experienced teachers will see the connections to current practices, and all educators will realize the potential SBL has to transform learning.