Embedded Files
Why: Meeting varied student needs and addressing grade-level standards has always been a balancing act. Teachers have long understood that it simply isn’t possible to teach every standard with the same depth and focus. Identifying essential standards can help teachers and teams proactively plan for which standards will receive the greatest attention in the coming year. This is more important now than ever before because many students will have missed content they normally would have learned in the spring, and there will likely be additional disruptions or changes to school schedules during the 2020-21 school year. Prioritizing standards will help teachers navigate some of these challenges by:
Helping ensure mastery for all students on the highest instructional priorities
Maximizing time and effort on the skills and content that matters the most
Aligning supplemental resources and supports such as interventions, special education services, teachers aids, tutoring, etc.
Identifying essentials for instruction during potential remote learning structures
Outcome: Participants will identify priority standards for one content area or course and identify potential essential gaps from the previous year to help plan for the upcoming school year.
Instructions: Work through this module chronologically, starting with Activity #1. All documents can be opened in a new window by selecting the arrow in the top right corner.
Note: This module was designed to be completed independently. If you are working with a team, please start here.
Activity #1 - Understanding Essential Standards (Suggested time: 30 min)
Activity #1 - Understanding Essential Standards (Suggested time: 30 min)
Step 1: Read
Read the brief narrative embedded to the right. Consider the following questions as you read:
What might happen if we tried to teach all of our standards with equal depth and focus next school year?
Think about your students. How might prioritizing standards specifically benefit them?
Step 2: Learn
Watch the narrated powerpoint embedded to the right. While you watch, consider the following questions:
What is an essential standard, and how does it differ from supporting standards?
How can focusing on essential standards build understanding of supporting standards?
How have you prioritized standards in the past? How might these concepts inform your planning now?
Step 3: Review Example
Review one of the lists of essential standards embedded below. As you review the example, consider the following:
How do the essential standards selected meet the criteria for prioritization?
How do the supporting standards align with and build up to the essential standards?
What types of instructional decisions would this list of essential standards help a teacher make?
Optional: Watch a Think Aloud
If you're feeling unsure about how to prioritize standards, watch the narrated powerpoint embedded to the right to see and hear one teacher think through which standards are essential. While you watch, notice how this teacher uses the criteria for an essential standard to identify priorities for the year.
Activity #2 - Identify Essential Standards (Suggested time: 30 min)
Activity #2 - Identify Essential Standards (Suggested time: 30 min)
Step 1: Review the Standards
Select one content area or course to focus on for your work today. Then, individually, read through all of the standards for that course and note which you would consider essential. Try to select no more than 2-3 standards per reporting category or strand.
Step 2: Create a List
Create a list of up to 10 standards that you believe are essential. As you create your list, be sure to consider the criteria for essential standards. Pressure test your selected standards against these, and if you feel one you've picked doesn't represent each or most, consider changing it.
Expansive: Encompasses multiple key skills or concepts represented in other standards
Transferable: Influences learning in other subjects
Impactful: Represents knowledge or skills necessary for success in the next grade/course
Persistent: Represents a knowledge gap common to many students
Significant: Requires a sustained focus to understand
Step 3: Finalize & Record Your List
Before you finalize your list of standards, consider whether collectively, they span your content area and represent various domains or reporting categories? (i.e. for ELA, essential standards are not all writing standards). Capture your final list in the Standards Planning Template embedded to the right.
Note: The Standards Planning Template includes space to record supporting standards that align with your selected essential standards and potential time it will take for instruction. While this is not the focus of this module, we encourage your team to find time to determine which supporting standards may align with your essential standards, and to consider how much instructional time each essential standard will require. At that time, you can use this template to capture that thinking.
Activity #3 - Filling in Gaps (Suggested time: 30 min)
Activity #3 - Filling in Gaps (Suggested time: 30 min)
Step 1: Identify Common Gaps
Review the standards for the grade level or course below the one you focused on earlier. Note standards that students typically struggle with when they reach your selected course.
Step 2: Identify Gaps From Remote Learning
Look again at the same standards, and note those that students may not have mastered this spring due to remote learning. Start by considering standards that are typically taught in the fourth quarter, or that were taught early in the year and would typically be reviewed in the spring.
Step 3: Prioritize
From your list, select 3-4 standards that represent the highest-priority gaps. Consider using the criteria for essential standards to help you narrow your list. Record your selections on the Standards Planning Template.
Note: There is a section on the template to record the standards for review that are aligned to your essential standards. At a later date, or with any additional time you have, consider which standards for review align with your essential standards and record these on the map. Aligned standards may be easy to teach within the context of your essential standards.
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