Exploring standards
There is a lot of confusion related to standards, and partly it is the result
of semantics. To illustrate the difference among some of the terms, look New Mexico
Science Standard 8 for middle school students.
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Content Standard 7: Physical Science
Students will know and understand the properties of matter.
Students will:
- Compare and contrast gravity to other forces in the world and universe.
- Compare and describe the gravitational force between two objects.
- Compare and contrast gravity to electrostatic forces; include protons and
electrons.
- Use magnets to demonstrate magnetic forces.
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The Content Standard is a broad category that is the same for all grade
levels. There are 16 New Mexico Science Content standards.
Item C is a benchmark. The benchmarks serve as curriculum design tools
and specify the levels of understanding and ability that all students are expected
to reach along the way to becoming literate in science.
List items 1-3 are the performance standards, which specify what the
student should be able to do as indicators of having satisfied the benchmark.
These standards should guide your curriculum and assessment.
The standards and benchmarks do not specify a particular curriculum, philosophy,
or instructional approach, but rather can be interpreted and implemented in a
variety of ways. They do not imply that separate teaching units should support
each other in isolation. (1)
It is up to districts to implement the standards. APS is in the process of
taking the "Core Curriculum" and making it fit the State Standards.
This process has been completed for both Language Arts and Mathematics, along
with added examples of how performance standards can be met. To see an example
of the math standards, click here.
Further reading
The Standards
Primer from New Mexico Highlands University offers a nice introduction to
standards-based teaching. Some of the links may be outdated, however, since the
actual standards have been moved to the State Department of Education web page.
References
1. National Standards and Benchmarks in Science Education:
A Primer. ERIC Digest.
ref: http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed402156.html
last updated
Sunday, August 19, 2007
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