Our school district uses a standards-based curriculum. Students progress through the grades by demonstrating mastery of the standards. Each standard has 1 or more performance benchmarks. The benchmarks are written on a performance grid which indicates what behavior is 'emerging', 'developing', 'proficient', or 'advanced'. Students don't move through the grades simply because they've occupied a seat for a certain length of time. They only advance if they master the content. It's a sound theory.
In practice, though, the truth has been quite different. Past teachers have been less than rigorous. For example, some of the students told us that last year the teacher would give them a printout of the benchmark. Then the student would google the information and write a paper. The paper had no citations. The ones I've read were also horribly written. They did nothing more than repeat back basic information.
I know this kind of system can work, but I'm not sure how to transition the kids into a more rigorous program. They don't value any work except that which leads to demonstrating mastery. There's no accountability in all the assignments that develop the skills leading to mastery.
Another problem is that the school looks like a hoarder's house! Everything needs to be cleaned out: file cabinets, book room, offices, classrooms, library. Everything! Our library needs to convert to the Library of Congress system. I think we're also going to need more shelving for the books that are piled up all over the place.
The kids are pretty great. Maybe the worst thing about them is that they're too independent. They're so used to doing everything for themselves that they have a hard time remembering that they're the students, and I'm the teacher. Well, that and the fact that none of them can write a decent sentence!
I still think I'm going to love this job, but I wanted to let you know what the struggles are, too.
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