Standards

Real World Q&A
After hearing you speak at the Midwest Leadership Conference in Sioux Falls, SD, I was discussing some of the points you made with colleagues. You specifically talked about cutting the 6th grade math standards down from 80 something to 7 essential standards. Have you done this with all subjects in all grade levels? If you have, is this information published somewhere and how can we get hold of it? What were the 7 standards for the 6th grade math program? We have teachers doing report cards by going through a check-off system of every standard a child has met. So far, this has only affected the elementary level, but the middle school is next for the same process. I'm a special education teacher and I know how paperwork takes away from the time it takes to prepare to teach. There has to be a better way.

Thanks very much for your inquiry. We have provided some examples of Power Standards, but they are only for illustration purposes. There is no substitute for your OWN faculty members going through your standards and asking:
      1) What endures?
      2) What has leverage?
      3) What is really necessary for success at the next grade level?

Then, of course, the job is not done. The next step is to agree on common assessments that all faculty members agree to use so that the focus on these Power Standards has meaning and consistency.

New York tried to do a report card including every standard, and it took them 12 pages for 4th graders. That has, thankfully, been abandoned. It just alienates parents and teachers alike. What is quite reasonable, however, is to have the report card reflect seven to ten standards that are absolutely vital for future success. In that way, even if a student gets (through the alchemy of the grading process) a C or a B, the parents will still know if the student is not succeeding in critical areas.

You can find some examples of language arts standards in the book Reason to Write (Simon & Schuster, 2002).

You asked for the 6th grade math Power Standards. They are:
      1) Number operations with and without a calculator.
      2) Tables, charts, graphs—create them given a data set, and draw inferences from them once they are completed.
      3) Fraction and decimal operations—again with and without a calculator.
      4) Measurement in English and metric units.
      5) Given a story problem, convert it to an accurate picture
      6) Properties of a triangle and rectangle.
      7) Two-dimensional scale drawing.

I'm fully aware that there are many other things in the 6th grade curriculum, but every 7th and 8th grade teacher I've ever interviewed has said they would be happier if students could do these seven things rather than be “checked off” on 80 other things that are in the standards.

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