[This blog is part of a series that begins with this recent post about our SBL journey.]

We have a high-achieving student body and there should be an observable correlation between the number of students that exceed expectations on our PARCC and MAP assessments and the number of students that achieve “4s” in their classroom performance.

Every student learns in differents ways and there will never be a perfect alignment between our assessment scores and classroom production.  That being said, we know our students can do remarkable things and we need to be sure to provide the opportunities for them to blow the ceiling off their grade level expectations.

After operating in a standards-based learning environment for several months I believe there are three primary ways that students can exceed expectations and earn a four.

Going Above and Beyond – going further than what the standard is asking a student to do.  This may be a student explaining, evaluating, synthesizing, or applying a standard in order to exceed the original expectation.  Bloom’s Taxonomy and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge levels are two frameworks that can help identify how learning may be extended.

Acceleration – moving to the next level of the standard.  This can more realistically be accomplished when the standards are linear in nature and may be more achievable in some courses compared to others.  For example, if a student masters a 6th-grade math standard and then works to master a 7th-grade standard that aligns with it.  The idea is that the standard should be the floor for all, but the ceiling for none.

Student input – teachers can listen to student input on how to exceed a standard.  Students may generate ideas that show how they can exceed the standard while also integrating their own passions, interests, and strengths.  This option should probably not be done in isolation, but instead paired with one or both of the above options as some students need more direction and guidance.

Should every single task, assignment, project, and assessment for every standard throughout the year have an opportunity for a “4?”  The answer is no; that would not necessarily be reasonable or achievable.  Should every strand in every course have multiple opportunities during the term to exceed expectations and provide the chance for a “4?”  Absolutely!  Our teachers are working hard on this as they learn how to further integrate opportunities to exceed expectations into their respective courses.