This is really a kind of professional development for teachers-it helps every teacher get a clear understanding of what quality work looks like. To support this process, the district is developing examples of acceptable work to go along with each performance standard. Eventually, the district says, it will provide sample tasks and benchmark student papers for most if not all standards. And the district is quick to point out that these benchmark examples will not only help teachers, they'll show parents and students what acceptable work looks like. A. Teachers will be expected to develop performance tasks of their own so they can regularly take a measure of how well their students are learning-how far they are from meeting the standard.
Most teachers assess so students can get a grade.
But this assessment is about finding out what kids know. Performance tasks will be used to see how well students can assemble and think about all the pieces of their learning. It's really just beginning. The middle schools are a little further along because they've been talking about standards seriously for a year or more. But, frankly, most teachers have not taken the discussion about standards-based teaching very seriously yet.