E. Communicating Standards
If the purpose of standards-based grading is to empower students as individual learners, and if the goal of Common Core is to be a practical language, then I think we need to embrace ways to visualize standards. That way, we can make collaboration easier between teachers as we talk about what students learn, and we can better communicate the standards to students.
Making Posters for Standards
Language Arts
In 2017, I created these posters to display standards in a kid friendly way that would be clear, concise, and powerful. In CCSS, there are six major domains for the standards that students learn during Language Arts.
Social Studies
In 2017, I created these posters as well. In AERO, there are eight major domains for the standards that students learn during Social Studies. While students need to unpack full standards to understand them, I think there is value in displaying a two to three word "short cut" for each standard in a bite-sized way that help bridge how teachers talk and how students learn.
Communicating Clearly
How you communicate standards determines how useful they are for students. Below is an example of how I like to post and unpack CCSS standards.
Helping Standards-Based Grading
I have worked at two schools that use standards-based grading, and I am comfortable with articulating assessments through standards, grading based on rubric descriptors, and communicating to students how they are growing based on standards. To help, I created a digital menu in 2016,, where each standard is analyzed meaningfully, and teachers and students can access them through Google Slides.
