Learning Standards

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A standard is an idea used as a measure or model in comparative evaluations. Standards in education measure student competency. They demonstrate what students are expected to learn in each subject and grade level.  For many years, there has been a national movement toward consistently using standards and grading students based on their mastery of a subject accordingly. Nearly every state has adopted English Language Arts and Mathematics standards as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). These, as well as other collections of standards, are being used throughout the education domain to provide students, parents, and educators with constant expectations and systematic grading.

As an educator, you intend to prepare your students for college, careers, and even life; mastery of each standard has proven to be a herald of your student's success. Classroom is, at its core, a standards-based gradebook that will assist you in managing student learning. With Classroom, you can design, administer, and grade a curriculum that identifies if your students have gained competency in a given standard. Classroom allows you to begin with the end in mind. That is, consider the concepts your students will have to master, those standards on which they will be judged before you even begin to teach them.

Classroom comes pre-loaded with several standards banks (collections) used in Washington, including the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and the Essential Academic Learning Requirements and Grade Level Expectations (EALRs & GLEs).

District-Specific Standards Banks (back to Quick Links)

Classroom allows districts to add whatever standards, frameworks, or collections that are important to them. The only requirement is a well-planned and categorized spreadsheet, with each standard having a unique identifier or code. The district-specific banks can include report card standards, competencies, learning targets, art, music, physical education, and career and technical education standards.

Several banks can be created as necessary, for instance, by grade level or school. Once loaded, any staff member in the district can access and use them for their own questions, assignments, and gradebooks.

Standards from these banks will be visible on student report cards alongside the common core. 

 If you want to add district-specific standards banks to Classroom, please contact support@schooldata.net.

Non-Academic Standards (back to Quick Links)

Non-academic standards are measures that do not relate to a student's mastery of a particular subject, like English, Math, or Science, but demonstrate their cognitive and social-emotional skills instead. Such traits as dependability, perseverance through tasks, and work ethic are skills needed to complete school and have a successful career. Many educators believe these skills can be taught and measured like any other subject.

Additionally, the concept of "readiness," though traditionally identified only for kindergarten students, is now a consideration for college-bound juniors and seniors. Readiness includes psychosocial factors that correlate with academic success. For instance:

• self-discipline
• self-confidence
• motivation
• study habits
• social connection
• general determination
• communication skills
• social activity
• goal striving
• emotional control

Other non-academic measures can include codes of conduct for the school or district or personality traits which promote a positive environment. For instance:

• attendance
• dress
• respect
• courtesy
• agreeableness
• openness
• teamwork

These essential abilities and characteristics are usually defined at the district or school level and are often part of a mission or vision statement.

 To add non-academic standards to Classroom, please contact support@schooldata.net.

 Browse Standards (back to Quick Links)

To browse the standards banks in Classroom, select Standards from the directory tree on the left or the Browse section.

Next, select a Learning Standard Framework by clicking the blue hyperlink.

A list of Standards will open.   

Filtering Standards (back to Quick Links)

For educators, browsing the standards on which their students will be evaluated is often the best way to learn about them. Once you select a bank, you can filter it by subject or grade. 

If you do not see the filters, click the Filter Actions gear to the right and select the Filter Display Mode and/or the Available Filters.

The filter options include locating standards by Keyword Search, Grade Level, Subjects, and/or Categories. You can even search by a standard's unique code. If you select multiple options, you will narrow the resulting list accordingly. However, if you use too many options, you may have no results. NOTE: SDS recommends filtering by a single grade level, single subject, or keyword. 

Once you have located the standards you are interested in, click the blue hyperlink for that standard to see a pop-up of the full standard text. NOTE: SDS recommends keeping a list of the standard codes you will use throughout Classroom. 

Finally, to clear any filters chosen, select the "X" next to the search, select the Select None or Reset buttons, or deselect the filter option by selecting “Hidden” from the Filter Actions gear.