Standards in the Classroom

"The success or failure of reform in education depends on how well each teacher learns how to implement standards in classroom instruction. This guide should be helpful in that process." - National Science Teachers Association, Washington.In this book, Richard H. Audet and Linda K. Jordan give teachers the tools they need to understand standards and benchmarks, use a standards-based instructional planning model, analyze curriculum using a standards lens, and align curriculum to students' learning goals. After completing the guide, teachers will be able to design performance-based assessment strategies, implement a standards-based instructional model, evaluate and align curriculum materials to standards. Designed to be sensitive to teachers' needs, the manuscript is clearly written, easy to use, practical, embedded in a classroom context, and tied to student achievement. The authors use a constructivist approach and a five-stage learning cycle that models good teaching. As the authors state, standards are here to stay. This book provides the missing link in standards-based reform.It book will give staff developers the tools they need to train teachers in this crucial step-designing curriculum and assessment around standards. This interactive guide can be used not only by individual teachers, but also by small study groups of teachers, in staff development workshops, and school-wide. This book can also be used with pre-service teachers. Features of the book include: interactive features include guided reflections, focused readings with questions, surveys, questionnaires, inventories, and rubrics; will work with national, state, or local standards; principally targets math and science but can be applied to all content areas; includes professional development designs for principals and staff developers; and contains suggestions for continuous study such as study groups, action research, and examining student work.