The Vocabulary of a Standards based system

The language used in a standards based system can be confusing. Here we will attempt to clarify what the terms mean. Even with this clarification, however, sometimes different content areas may use slightly different terms. Here is a summary of terms and meanings, and then a sample document is provided for an example.

Standards - these are the broad categories of learning set forth by the state within a discipline. Some disciplines have more standards than others. For example. Mathematics has 5 standards, while English/Language Arts has 8 standards. We must certify that students have met all the standards in each discipline for graduation.

Indicators - these are more specific statements about the standards. The state has provided a large group of indicators for each standard, and each department has chosen the indicators that they believe make the most sense for our students. In order to meet each Standard, students must show they have met the selected indicators.

Classroom Indicators - these are very detailed statements that can be assessed within a classroom. This is where students must demonstrate proficiency by scoring a 3.0 on the 4.0 rubric scale. There are one or more classroom indicators used to measure the indicators listed on our documents. The scores on the various classroom indicators are averaged together to give a score for the Indicator, and then the Indicator scores are averaged together to give a score for the Standard.

Below is a snippet from the Math Standards at Carrabec High School. This will be used as an example to show how these different terms are used.

This snippet contains two of the five standards in mathematics that need to be met for graduation. The complete set of mathematics standards can be found here.

We will focus on Standard 2: Algebra, which says "Interpret, represent, create, and solve algebraic expressions." In order for a student to show they have met this standard, they must show they have met the indicators bulleted below the standard.

Each of these bulleted indicators in turn has one or more classroom indicators to be assessed. So, for example, for the indicator "Solve systems of equations" (the 6th indicator under standard 2), there are actually 3 classroom indicators that teachers will assess under the PBE system. One of those is used as a sample on the Grades and PBE page.

Typically, each classroom indicator needs a score of 3.0 on the 4.0 rubric scale. So, in the case of "Solve systems of equations", a student will have 3 scores (one for each classroom indicator) that will be averaged to make up the Indicator score. Then, each of the indicators listed (there are 7 in all for this standard, spread over multilple classes) will have their indicator scores averaged to give the average for the Standard.

In summary....

Standards - The broad categories in each discipline that need to be certified that students are proficient in. These standards are set by the state.

Indicators - Sub statements of standards that students must be proficient at. These indicators are chosen by the departments based on the state standards and Learning Results.

Classroom indicators - specific classroom objectives that will be assessed. Addtionally, students can show they have met these classroom indicators in alternate ways. See the section on this website about Multiple Pathways for more information. These indicators will have common assessments between all teachers of a particular course, so that there is consistency between different teachers on the measurement of proficiency.