Putting Learning Standards to Work for District Students

At the start of the 2005-2006 school year, the District of Columbia introduced revised, more challenging learning standards throughout the system. These standards are an important step in building the worldclass public education system that the District's children deserve. They will serve as the foundation and focal point for all of our work - from the textbooks and tests we use … to the instruction that teachers provide in classrooms throughout the city.

We want everyone to understand the standards and how they will improve our schools. Here are some things you should know:

Standards = High Expectations for All Students 

Standards are descriptions of what students should know and be able to do to pass each subject. By having uniform standards, we set the same high expectations for every student and teacher throughout the system. Too often in the past, some students were held to high expectations while little was expected of others. That's wrong, educationally and ethically.

Standards for the Core Subjects

For the critical subject areas of reading/English language arts and mathematics, the District of Columbia has used Massachusetts' learning standards - considered by many experts to be among the best in the nation - as the foundation. Reading/lEnglish language arts standards cover reading, writing, speaking, listening and other forms of communication. Groups of educators, parents and community members revised the Massachusetts standards so that they cover every grade, from prekindergarten through grade 12, and reflect the District's culture.

For science and social studies, in addition to Massachusetts we also will borrow and customize standards from California, Arizona and Indiana - other states with standards that are considered among the best inthe country. A roundtable of city educators, parents and community members are developing these standards for submission to the Board of Education in Fall 2005. We expect standards for the program areas of art, music, health, physical education and world languages will be developed later.

Aligning Textbooks, Curriculum and Tests

Having strong academic standards is only the beginning of an improvement process that will reach into every classroom. We also have:

• Selected new textbooks that are aligned with the knowledge and skills called for by the standardsfor each grade. Based on extensive input from DC teachers and principals, all schools now have new textbooks in reading/English language arts, math and science.
• Built curriculum frameworks, curriculums and curriculum maps - essential steps that translate the knowledge and skills described in the standards into clear and specific guidance for teachers on what needs to be taught and when it needs to be taught for each subject and at each grade level. This process ensures that students receive the instruction they need to meet the standards, and that teachers have enough time to teach the material and students have enough time to learn it. Teachers have received detailed curriculum guides, and additional information is being developed throughout the school year.
• Started developing new tests to show that students are meeting the standards. We continued to use the Stanford-9 tests through spring 2005, but we will have new standardized tests that are customized to our new standards by spring 2006. We plan to have new tests that cover reading/language arts and mathematics in grades 3 through 8 and grade 10, as required by No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

Working with Teachers, Principals, Parents and the Community