By establishing goals for our school system, we set the foundation for creating standards responsive to those goals. In concert with the competencies articulated in Connecticut's Common Core of Learning, we regard standards as a vital component of our curriculum. Content standards, written at the curriculum level, link desired learning outcomes with performance expectations. Performance standards, written at the classroom level, link the course of study standards to the daily lesson plan. Challenging academic standards are a vehicle to embed high expectations into the curriculum.
Standards inform teachers, parents, students, employers and colleges of our curriculum's rigor.
Standards provide the criteria for evaluating instruction and assessing learning. In the schools of Litchfield, clearly articulated standards serve as a beacon to guide us in our quest for higher student achievement. The belief that all students can achieve high standards transforms nearly everything about the way we approach schooling.