We’re doing a book study with a group of educators from around our district who chose to read The Standards-Based Classroom: Make Learning the Goal, written by us a few years ago. Some of these teachers were in the original pilot program in our district, so have almost a decade of experience in a standards-based system; others are newer to our district and to the practices central to SBL. What they all have in common is a desire to continue their learning and reflect on their practices, For each of the four sections of the book, participating teachers will share their experiences, their reflections, and their questions with each other and with us, and they have given us permission to share excerpts publicly.
The first section of the book is all about setting clear destinations for learning. Our district uses the K-U-D to help with curriculum planning and communication. This is a backwards design template that articulates what students will Know, Understand, and be able to Do at the end of a period of learning. We use skill-based Learning Targets, which are the Ds in our K-U-Ds, and these targets are the level 3 in our Learning Scales. Thanks to Carol Tomlinson, Grant Wiggins, and Jay McTighe for all of their work in this area that inspired our systems and structures.
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| Humanities K-U-D |
All of the courses at our high school have K-U-Ds that are common for common courses and made public each year. Here is the most recent version of the public document that links to all High School K-U-Ds. We have four middle schools (grades 5-8), and all disciplines across the district share common learning targets and scales. Here are the links to Grades 5-6 Targets & Scales and Grades 7-8 Targets & Scales.
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| Target and Scale |
In our own experiences teaching in standards-based classrooms over the past decade, we have found that clear destinations defined and articulated through K-U-Ds, Learning Targets, and Scales have changed our focus from what we teach to what students learn. Our planning, instruction, and assessment practices have become so much more intentional and responsive, and as a result, learning and engagement have increased. Over time, we have developed some strategies and structures that help improve effectiveness. The teachers in the book study tried a few of these strategies, and here is their thinking:
Geoff Glaspie: High School Math Teacher
One of the [strategies] from the first section (chapter 3 specifically) that resonated with me was the idea of “lose the numbers” on the Learning Scale, because I can see how it has the potential for students to treat a formative more as communication rather than compensation or judgment. Up until now, I have used learning scales with numbers on them and circled or written what the student’s level was — both for formative and summative assessments. This followed from what I observed with my mentor teacher and from other teachers with whom I have taught collaboratively or in parallel. The most common reaction I see when returning formatives is that they absolutely narrow their focus to the # on the paper. They share out loud with others what their level is, ask questions about the score, e.g. “if I had done [x], would I have gotten a 3?”...I see them laser-focused on the number and more often than not, quickly file the returned quiz in their folder or in some cases, throw them out. While I take the time to give very specific feedback on the student’s work within the body of the assessment, my feeling is that they do not absorb the information and insight from my comments or feedback because they are stuck on the number they achieved.
I decided to give [replacing numbers with an arrow] a try on my next formative in Geometry. Instead of circling one of the boxes or writing a number on the scale, I underlined the words in green that the student was secure in, red what they did not show evidence of, and both red and green if they were starting to show proficiency, but were not yet consistent. Before I handed them back, I told them what they would see, why I was doing it, and what their next steps were. Below is an example of a marked scale on a quiz.
What I observed right away was that students were more focused on looking at what they did, my comments, and some immediately asked, “can we go over adding radicals today?” This type of question is not something that I have typically seen in reaction to getting a quiz returned. I was also asked “do you have some practice sheets for solving special right triangles I can have to work on?” This was enough for me to say this is a practice I need to continue.
Leanne Morton: High School Latin Teacher
The simple strategy of removing numbers from scales during the practice and learning process struck me as we reach the end of a marking period where numbers matter. Too often I think students worry about the grade, but with the transition to standards-based classroom, I have noticed a shift. By providing the language in the “I can” statements, students now know how to articulate what they might need to do in order to reach the next step. I have seen my conversations shift and powerfully so because there is actual language to use in helping students understand what they need to do in order to meet the next part of the scale. I have never thought about removing the numbers from the top of my scales on formatives/practice. Sometimes depending on how my copying and pasting goes, they do not appear, but I love the idea of encouraging the continuum of learning by adding a simple arrow. I have seen the arrow used in all the work Emily and Stan have produced for us at CVU, but never once thought about adding it to my work. I too have been trained by the grade/number machine and it is liberating to think about focusing our practice/learning time around the process. I like thinking about how we go from the first part of the scale to the last and what learning do we need to do rather than focusing on “how do I get the four?” I just started a unit on conjugating and translating verbs in the imperfect and perfect tenses. I am moving students from the present tense into the imperfect and decided to remind them about the targets involved. I changed the table to include the arrow and like the next part of my reflection, am employing part of the unit KUD into the work. You can see the slide show here.
Katie Kuntz: High School Humanities Teacher
Using KUDs and targets make so much sense to both teachers and students. When we were first asked to use KUD’s at CVU so many teachers said this was just another fad… that “the pendulum would swing another direction in a few short years.” To be honest, I can’t imagine teaching any other way.
Our basic format is at the very beginning of each unit we give students a packet and the very first page of that packet has the KUD, learning targets, formative and summatives, as well as a tentative calendar. When we hand it out we go over any new targets, explain the formatives and summatives and then ask students to look at the “Understands”. This section usually takes me the longest to write up as I tend not to be a “big picture” kind of gal but I have come to realize that this may be one of the most important parts. It allows students to see the connections and what learning they will do to make these connections. I have to say that I hate writing this section but feel amazing about them once I go through the process. It’s kind of like eating a salad. I don’t really want one for lunch, I’d rather eat a burger and fries, and I’m kind of grumpy during lunch, but then feel much happier in the afternoon about my food choice! Here’s an example of our KUD/scales/calendar format.
Tim Buckingham: Middle School Music: K-U-D's can be a template for all learning episodes -- bigger units, smaller lessons, even daily class agendas, etc...in order to intentionally tap knowledge, have a performance goal, and understand all of it within the context of learning over time. Could it be that easy?! Much like Understanding by Design (UbD), K-U-D's increase not only our organization as teachers but continue to have us focus on performance tasks at the heart of the education -- this keeps intention of designing learning based on the skill, incorporating content knowledge and the understanding of "why" we do it all.
Abby Granoff: Middle School Para-educator and Licensed Teacher: KUDs are the cornerstone of teaching. They help us to plan instruction, design assessments, and let students know what we want them to get out of it. If we don't know where we want our students to end up, we will be much less successful in getting them there. Once we have a KUD developed, we can share it with our students at the beginning of a unit, and ideally hang it up somewhere in the classroom and reference it every day. Also, when designing instruction, we can write what part of the KUD the lesson relates to on the board, so that students know where we're trying to go. KUDs give us a really clear destination, and allows us to be more intentional about the instruction we plan. If we think of the KUD as the destination, and planning is the road to get there, we can refer back to our KUD when planning to make sure that our instruction or lesson will actually get us to our destination and not take us on a scenic route or down a dead end.
Peg Rosenau: Middle School Para-educator and Licensed Teacher: The various standards that guide instruction in different disciplines provide a framework for instruction but also a huge amount of autonomy. Content in the digital age is ubiquitous, if not overwhelming. These combined can create a “drinking from a firehose” situation when determining what is most important to present to students, especially for a prescribed scope of time. K-U-Ds can bring some intentionality to this process by focusing ultimately on the desired skills that one wants students to get out of a unit- as it is the skills that ultimately demonstrate the knowledge and understanding of the experience.
If you have any thoughts or examples you would like to share, please feel free to comment. The more we share with each other, the better it will be for students.
Geoff Glaspie: High School Math Teacher
One of the [strategies] from the first section (chapter 3 specifically) that resonated with me was the idea of “lose the numbers” on the Learning Scale, because I can see how it has the potential for students to treat a formative more as communication rather than compensation or judgment. Up until now, I have used learning scales with numbers on them and circled or written what the student’s level was — both for formative and summative assessments. This followed from what I observed with my mentor teacher and from other teachers with whom I have taught collaboratively or in parallel. The most common reaction I see when returning formatives is that they absolutely narrow their focus to the # on the paper. They share out loud with others what their level is, ask questions about the score, e.g. “if I had done [x], would I have gotten a 3?”...I see them laser-focused on the number and more often than not, quickly file the returned quiz in their folder or in some cases, throw them out. While I take the time to give very specific feedback on the student’s work within the body of the assessment, my feeling is that they do not absorb the information and insight from my comments or feedback because they are stuck on the number they achieved.
I decided to give [replacing numbers with an arrow] a try on my next formative in Geometry. Instead of circling one of the boxes or writing a number on the scale, I underlined the words in green that the student was secure in, red what they did not show evidence of, and both red and green if they were starting to show proficiency, but were not yet consistent. Before I handed them back, I told them what they would see, why I was doing it, and what their next steps were. Below is an example of a marked scale on a quiz.
Leanne Morton: High School Latin Teacher
The simple strategy of removing numbers from scales during the practice and learning process struck me as we reach the end of a marking period where numbers matter. Too often I think students worry about the grade, but with the transition to standards-based classroom, I have noticed a shift. By providing the language in the “I can” statements, students now know how to articulate what they might need to do in order to reach the next step. I have seen my conversations shift and powerfully so because there is actual language to use in helping students understand what they need to do in order to meet the next part of the scale. I have never thought about removing the numbers from the top of my scales on formatives/practice. Sometimes depending on how my copying and pasting goes, they do not appear, but I love the idea of encouraging the continuum of learning by adding a simple arrow. I have seen the arrow used in all the work Emily and Stan have produced for us at CVU, but never once thought about adding it to my work. I too have been trained by the grade/number machine and it is liberating to think about focusing our practice/learning time around the process. I like thinking about how we go from the first part of the scale to the last and what learning do we need to do rather than focusing on “how do I get the four?” I just started a unit on conjugating and translating verbs in the imperfect and perfect tenses. I am moving students from the present tense into the imperfect and decided to remind them about the targets involved. I changed the table to include the arrow and like the next part of my reflection, am employing part of the unit KUD into the work. You can see the slide show here.
Katie Kuntz: High School Humanities Teacher
Using KUDs and targets make so much sense to both teachers and students. When we were first asked to use KUD’s at CVU so many teachers said this was just another fad… that “the pendulum would swing another direction in a few short years.” To be honest, I can’t imagine teaching any other way.
Our basic format is at the very beginning of each unit we give students a packet and the very first page of that packet has the KUD, learning targets, formative and summatives, as well as a tentative calendar. When we hand it out we go over any new targets, explain the formatives and summatives and then ask students to look at the “Understands”. This section usually takes me the longest to write up as I tend not to be a “big picture” kind of gal but I have come to realize that this may be one of the most important parts. It allows students to see the connections and what learning they will do to make these connections. I have to say that I hate writing this section but feel amazing about them once I go through the process. It’s kind of like eating a salad. I don’t really want one for lunch, I’d rather eat a burger and fries, and I’m kind of grumpy during lunch, but then feel much happier in the afternoon about my food choice! Here’s an example of our KUD/scales/calendar format.
Tim Buckingham: Middle School Music: K-U-D's can be a template for all learning episodes -- bigger units, smaller lessons, even daily class agendas, etc...in order to intentionally tap knowledge, have a performance goal, and understand all of it within the context of learning over time. Could it be that easy?! Much like Understanding by Design (UbD), K-U-D's increase not only our organization as teachers but continue to have us focus on performance tasks at the heart of the education -- this keeps intention of designing learning based on the skill, incorporating content knowledge and the understanding of "why" we do it all.
Abby Granoff: Middle School Para-educator and Licensed Teacher: KUDs are the cornerstone of teaching. They help us to plan instruction, design assessments, and let students know what we want them to get out of it. If we don't know where we want our students to end up, we will be much less successful in getting them there. Once we have a KUD developed, we can share it with our students at the beginning of a unit, and ideally hang it up somewhere in the classroom and reference it every day. Also, when designing instruction, we can write what part of the KUD the lesson relates to on the board, so that students know where we're trying to go. KUDs give us a really clear destination, and allows us to be more intentional about the instruction we plan. If we think of the KUD as the destination, and planning is the road to get there, we can refer back to our KUD when planning to make sure that our instruction or lesson will actually get us to our destination and not take us on a scenic route or down a dead end.
Peg Rosenau: Middle School Para-educator and Licensed Teacher: The various standards that guide instruction in different disciplines provide a framework for instruction but also a huge amount of autonomy. Content in the digital age is ubiquitous, if not overwhelming. These combined can create a “drinking from a firehose” situation when determining what is most important to present to students, especially for a prescribed scope of time. K-U-Ds can bring some intentionality to this process by focusing ultimately on the desired skills that one wants students to get out of a unit- as it is the skills that ultimately demonstrate the knowledge and understanding of the experience.
If you have any thoughts or examples you would like to share, please feel free to comment. The more we share with each other, the better it will be for students.
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