A Formative Focus - Standards

The Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC), the group that developed standard on which most state standards (and the WELS Teaching Standards) are based, captured these shifts in thinking, “The committee’s thinking evolved from a focus on evaluation rubrics to a decision to craft developmental progressions of teaching practice that could be used as a support tool for teacher development.” (InTASC, 2013, p. 10) and viewed the standards as descriptive criteria for formative judgements and support and not an evaluation tool. The group also noted that:

In the larger context of the WELS Ministerial Growth and Development Process, the MDP is one data source that informs teacher growth and leads to enhanced student learning a spiritual growth.