Standards-Based Learning FAQ's

The school year is off to a great start, and it's exciting to see many teams further implementing standards-based learning with their students.  As we continue to expand this initiative, more questions arise related to this work.  These questions provide excellent information on how we can provide clarity and support for this work.   We have put together a form for teachers and/or teams to submit questions they have related to standards-based learning. The responses to these questions will be shared with all staff so you can reference it as questions arise.  

Standards-Based Learning Question Form (this is where you submit questions)

The communication workgroup from the Grading and Reporting Leadership Team has been working on responses for frequently asked questions.  These have been added to the document.  We have also had some frequent questions since the beginning of the school year, and responses to these have also been added.  These may be found on the response form, and are also included in today's blog.

Standards-Based Learning FAQ's (this is where you see the responses)

Why move to standards-based learning?

• It gives more precision and meaning to letter grades.
• It shifts to a greater focus on learning
• It provides more and better opportunities for feedback for improvement and growth.
• If provides information to differentiate instruction and provide tiers of support. 
• It gives students more ownership of their learning.

What is the purpose of standards-based learning?

Student learning is the most important thing we do at Southeast Polk, and grades should reflect that. The goal of standards based learning is to provide the most accurate picture of student learning. Our focus is specifically on what students know and are able to do. The purpose is to allow teachers to communicate the learning that took place and the feedback necessary for continued learning. The learning that takes place is specifically rooted in agreed-upon standards, so teachers can provide the instructional supports students need to succeed.

What is the difference between SBL and traditional grades?

In the traditional grading system, grades are typically generated from a series of scores from all work assigned in the class, including classwork, homework, projects, quizzes, tests, etc. These scores may be arranged in the grade book by the type of assignment rather than by the essential outcomes for the class. Therefore, the final grade becomes a cumulative numerical average from many unrelated activities, which might include points for non-academic factors, such as behavior, participation, effort, and attitude. Standards based learning, however, focuses solely on progress toward mastery of the priority standards of the class. Since we will continue to use traditional letter grades on report cards, communication about a student’s proficiency on priority standards will also provide more clarity on how they earned the letter grade for the class.

What is the current expectation for implementation of SBL?

-Because of the nature of course structures, curriculum design, release of standards, etc., we recognize that collaborative teams are in different places. The expectation is that when teams have their standards prioritized, they will create units of study and proficiency scales. Once the scales are completed, teams will share these with students and use the scales to guide instruction, provide feedback, differentiate instruction and celebrate growth. Through this process, teams are also revising assessments as well as performance opportunities to demonstrate evidence of proficiency to align with the scales. The current expectation is that all teams are somewhere in the above process working towards their next step.

-Some teams have collaboratively decided to pilot translating the work with proficiency scales into grades. They are working with Canvas and other tools to convert the information to letter grades. We will use the information from this pilot to guide actions and support for future work.

-All buildings will have professional development this year related to quality feedback. The work around feedback centers around the proficiency scales to provide students with more clarity on where they are heading with their learning, where they are, and where they will go next. 

-(Elementary only) Elementary has been working with behavior reporting. The workgroup for this area recommended that we have 3 levels of performance rather than 4 as it was difficult and added additional work to define what advanced levels of responsibility, respect, motivated learner, and safe looked like. The 3 levels are demonstrates independently, demonstrates with support, requires redirection. We did not want to confuse parents with a 4 point scale for learning and a 3 point scale for learner behaviors, so we proposed a '+ ✓ -- ' reporting format. (Plus, check, minus). Our intent was to move forward with this during our first trimester of reporting this year, but we received some feedback during our grade level collaboration on Wednesday, 9/11. We value this feedback, and we will share it with the behavior work group. If we can come to consensus and teams are ready to move forward with this model, we will use it this year. If we are not able to come to a clear solution, we will add it to the timeline for next year.

We know this is a shift, and we appreciate your dedication to providing these supports that will further benefit our students.  Two dates that are important to know for next steps:

• The Grading and Reporting Leadership Team will meet on Tuesday, September 17th to propose actions for moving forward.  This action plan will be shared with all staff when it is finalized.
• September 23rd district professional learning will focus on supporting teams with their next steps in implementing standards-based learning.