In the current thinking about standards-based teaching and learning environments in schools, educators are very familiar with the triangle paradigm of Content Standards, Instruction, and Assessment. We believe this model lacks a critical dimension-that of defining desired performance, that we call Performance Standards. When performance standards are clearly articulated, educators can tap the dynamic interaction of content, instruction and assessment for improved decision-making in the classroom.

The Collaborative focuses on an approach it calls "creating a standards-based environment" to help teachers come to understand and utilize a set of research-based instructional strategies, generally and informally referred to as "best practices." These practices are built around a dedication to learner-centered instruction and a commitment to achieving commonly held standards for high performance. They include:

• interdisciplinary instructional plans
• based on clear and rigorous standards
• that require learners to be active participants in the learning process
• through inquiry, discovery and problem solving
• using the arts to develop creativity and tap their multiple intelligences
• and that require teachers to make daily, appropriate and purposeful instructional decisions
• based on observed evidence of student strengths and needs
• to help students make progress toward meaningful content standards.

It is the context of a standards-based teaching and learning environment that challenges teachers to think differently about their role in the classroom, and their responsibility for engaging their students in more rigorous work around content. It is important to note the difference between this approach and merely "teaching to standards;" a distinction that many misunderstand. The latter is little more than a different name for the old "scope and sequence" approach to instructional planning lending itself to low-level, checklist strategy for ensuring that content is "covered." On the other hand, with a standards-based approach, teachers must be intensively engaged in facilitating and monitoring the progress of all students as individuals by applying purposeful techniques for gathering evidence (assessing) about student progress, comparing this evidence to performance standards and responding with needed adjustments to the instructional plan so as to help students make continuous progress.

The Collaborative has developed a technology and training approach in standards-based teaching and learning that is appropriate for all grade levels and subject areas and instructional leadership including, but not limited to:

• Instructional Leadership in a Standards-Based Environment
• Teaching and Learning in a Standards-Based Environment
• Mathematics and Science in a Standards-Based Environment
• Learning Through the Arts in a Standards-Based Environment

The approach generally spans a two to five year period and involves whole school faculties and building administrators in intensive, purposeful work around designing a standards-based culture for the school. Depending on the identified needs of the school, other technologies and resources can be integrated into the standards-based work (for example, see Learning Xpress).

Click here to view a School Performance Guide developed by the Collaborative to illustrate a progression of standards-based practice from "non-productive" to "exemplary."

For More Information
For more information about the standards-based teaching and learning training available through the Collaborative, contact Christie Maloney at (502) 895-9500 or (800) 995-3965.