**Sample Standards from English Language Arts and Mathematics**

*This document demonstrates how the wording of draft standards can be
changed so that they will meet the quality criteria for standards:
comprehensive/coherent, clear and intelligible, manageable, rigorous,
and measurable.*

**English Language Arts**

Answer questions about facts that you hear or read. \[*Original
standard*: Respond appropriately to questions based on facts in text
heard or read.\]

Decide what will happen next in a story. Explain whether or not this
actually happened. *Original standard:* Make predictions about what will
happen next in a story and explain why the predictions were or were not
confirmed.

Make sense of \[*Decode*\] one- and two-syllable words by using the
sounds that usually go with the letter.

Identify the causes of events in a story and the effects of those
events. \[*Original standard:* Identify cause and effect of specific
events in a literary selection.\]

Identify several kinds of literature, such as poetry, fiction, drama,
nonfiction or short story, and tell what makes each form different.
\[*Original standard:* Identify differences among the common genres of
literature: poetry, drama, fiction, nonfiction, and short story.\]

Determine an author's position, (what the author is arguing). Use
supporting evidence from the text. \[*Original standard*: Determine an
author's position, providing supporting evidence from the text.\]

Explain why an author used specific sensory details and images. What did
each add to the poem or story? \[*Original standard:* Identify and draw
conclusions about the author's use of sensory details, imagery, and
figurative language.\]

Draw conclusions about style, mood, tone, and meaning of prose, poetry
and drama based on the author's word choice and use of images
\[*figurative language\]*.

Write an explanation of a process, such as making brownies or how to
play Tic Tac Toe. Include a topic statement, supporting details and a
conclusion.

Determine the meaning of figurative language, including similes (hard as
a rock), metaphors (It's a dog's life.), personification (old man
winter), and grade- appropriate idioms (The test was a piece of cake).

Identify the meanings of common Greek and Latin roots and affixes to
determine the meanings of unfamiliar words. For example, coronation
contains the Greek root "coron" which means crown; archaeology has the
root "arch" meaning ancient; flaccid contains the root "flacc" which
means flabby.

Ask probing questions to get information. Use evidence to support claims
and conclusions. \[*Original standard*: Ask probing questions designed
to elicit purposeful information, including evidence to support the
speaker's claims and conclusions.\]

Understand and explain difference in meaning \[*shades of meaning*\] of
related words (such as annoyed, irritated, aggravated, irked, miffed,
peeved, angry, irate, furious and enraged).

State in his or her own words \[*Paraphrase*\] the speaker\'s purpose
and point of view. Ask relevant questions concerning a speaker\'s
content, delivery, and purpose.

Write short poems that contain sensory details (like the sound of the
sea or the way a pet's fur feels) and follow some conventions, including
rhyme, meter and the patterns of verse forms.

Evaluate whether the details and facts in a text are enough to achieve
the author's purpose. \[*Original standard*: Evaluate the adequacy of
details and facts in text to achieve a specific purpose.\]

Identify the controlling idea or specific purpose of a speech. Show how
the speaker made the purpose clear. \[*Original standard*: Identify the
controlling idea or specific purpose of a speech and determine the
essential elements that elaborate it.\]

**[Mathematics]{.underline}**

Count, read and write whole numbers such as 1, 5, 20, and 287--- up to
1,000.

Show that addition is the opposite of subtraction. (So that, for example
2 + 6 = 8 and 8 -- 6 = 2). Use this understanding to simplify
calculations and check solutions. \[*Original standard*: Demonstrate an
understanding of the inverse relationship of addition and subtraction.
Use this understanding to simplify calculations and check solutions.\]

Know that numbers and their negatives (such as 2 and --2, 450 and --450)
add up to 0 and are on opposite sides and at equal distance from 0 on a
number line.

Know and remember addition and subtraction facts for numbers up to 10
\[*addends to 10*\]. Use these facts to solve problems.

Describe and create addition and subtraction number pattern
\[*progressions*\]. For example, 1,4, 7, 10 ... is the result of adding
3 to the number before. 25, 23, 21 ... is the result of subtracting 2
from the previous number.

Solve problems involving proportional relationships, including unit
pricing (for example, four apples cost 80 cents so one apple costs 20
cents) and map interpretation (if one inch represents five miles, then
two inches represent 10 miles).

Find all factors of any whole number up to 50. (For example, factors of
12 are 2 x 6 and 3 x 4).

Select, use, and explain the commutative property of operations on whole
numbers where the same result is given irrespective of the order in
which two or more terms or quantities are placed. For example, 37 x 46 =
46 x 37. \[*Original standard:* Select, use and explain the commutative
property of operations on whole numbers in problem situations.\]

Identify symmetry in two-dimensional shapes. For example, when two sides
of a heart are the same.

Calculate the percentage increase and decrease of a quantity. For
example, if a \$100 pair of shoes now costs \$80, what is the percent of
savings?

Know and understand the Pythagorean theorem (A theorem that states that
in a right triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse equals
the sum of the squares of the lengths of the legs: a^2^ + b^2^ =c^2^ )

Set up and solve linear equations and inequalities with one or two
variables using algebraic methods and graphs. Example: As a salesperson,
you are paid \$50 per week plus \$3 per sale. This week you want your
pay to be least \$100. Write an inequality for the number of sales you
need to make, solve it, and check that your answer is reasonable.

Graph a linear equation using ordered pairs; identify and represent the
graphs of linear functions. Example: Survey students in your program
about how much time they spend on homework. Plot the grade level and
time of each student as a point (grade, time) on a scatter diagram.

Calculate perimeter, circumference and area of common geometric figures,
such as circles, triangles, parallelograms and trapezoids. \[SHOW\]

![](media/image1.png){width="3.4305555555555554in"
height="1.9861111111111112in"}

Area of trapezoid=1/2 (a+b)h=mh