How can my assessment become more standards-based?

Despite the current standards-based reform movement, many educators struggle with specific strategies and procedures that will align classroom work with state standards. These struggles may exist due to fundamental differences between traditional instructional planning strategies and suggested models for standards-based planning. Typically, teachers begin instructional planning with textbooks, resources, or favorite lessons and units. In this traditional planning model, decisions regarding instructional activities are made first. Decisions about state standards and assessment methods are considered later, in some cases, after classroom instruction is complete. In contrast, a standards-based planning model requires teachers to reverse the order of decisions in the planning process with decisions regarding standards and assessments made prior to decisions about instructional methods. This planning procedure is not new. Ralph Tyler (1949) described a strikingly similar process 50 years ago.

Educational objectives become the criteria by which materials are selected, content is outlined, instructional procedures are developed, and tests and examinations are prepared … The purpose of a statement of objectives is to indicate the kinds of changes in the student to be brought about so that instructional activities can be planned and developed in a way likely to attain these objectives (pp. 1, 45).

The process of standards-based planning requires changes in classroom practice that go to the core of the planning process addressing the underlying source and sequence of instructional content. No longer are teachers independently choosing topics and content for instruction. Instead, state standards identify the specifics regarding what students should know and be able to do. The standards, therefore, establish a framework that is used to guide collective decisions among educators regarding curriculum, assessment, and instruction. The standards-based model also disputes the common “assessment as an afterthought” approach in which teachers wait until instructional practices are complete before assessments are contemplated or created. In many of these cases, the result is an over-reliance on textbook tests or teacher-made assessments created at the end of an instructional unit that inadequately address standards.

James Popham suggests that teachers follow a standards-based design by thinking through learning outcomes, working backward from possible assessment items, and clarifying what the students must be taught in preparation for assessments. He identifies three advantages to this approach.

• Teachers’ tasks analyses will be more accurate . With a more precise fix on the leaning outcome sought, it’s easier for teachers to identify any enabling knowledge or sub skills that students must acquire.
• Teachers’ in-class explanations will be clearer. If teachers clearly understand what students are supposed to be able to do at the end of instruction, quality explanations are more likely.
• Teachers’ selected practice activities will be more germane. The more relevant practice students receive, the better they will usually perform (Popham, 2001).

Popham advocates a pointed focus on standards identifying the importance of “outcome clarity”.

“People who have a clear idea about where they’re going are more likely to get there. Teachers who have a clear idea of the learning outcomes their students should achieve will be more likely to help their students attain those outcomes” (Popham, 2001).

Wiggins and McTighe call this process “backwards design”. They identify teachers as the designers of curriculum and learning experiences suggesting that the best designs are “backward” in nature. Three stages are identified in this backwards design process that suggest a clear sequence for the curriculum.

Stage 1 – Identify Desired Results

What should students know, understand, and be able to do?

Stage 2 – Determine Acceptable Evidence

How will we know if students have achieved the desired results and met the standards?

Stage 3 – Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction

What activities will equip students with the needed knowledge and skills (Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J., 1998)?

By following this backwards design methodology; teachers are equipped with the strategies necessary to develop standards-based assessments that produce valid results regarding student achievement.

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