Monticello schools transition to Standards Reference Reporting

     If you have a student in school, chances are they have been taught by a teacher that has been piloting Standards Referenced Reporting over the past two years. During the 2018-19 school year, the Monticello Community School District will be transitioning to Standards Referenced Reporting in all classrooms across the district. Over the past five years, teachers and administrators have been engaged in professional learning in order to prepare for this school year.

     Standards Referenced Reporting differs from Standards Based Grading in some very important ways. They are as follows:

     As part of the transition, teachers have identified priority standards or “promise standards” for each course that they teach. Students will continue to be taught all the grade level or content area standards for each course but may not be assessed on all of them. Priority standards are those that teachers have identified as having four specific characteristics which are (1) endurance or knowledge and skills that are valued beyond a single test date, (2) leverage or knowledge and skills that are valued in multiple disciplines, 3) readiness or knowledge and skills that are necessary for success in the next grade level or next unit of instruction and 4) teacher professional judgment deems a standard is essential for a course.

     These priority standards or “promise standards” are those that teachers provide intervention, enrichment, re-teaching, progress monitoring and/or reassessment to students based on their level of mastery. This ensures students are prepared for the next phase of their education. As an educational system we “promise” if students have the knowledge, skills and understanding of a priority standard they will be prepared to make connections between what they know and believe to be true and new concepts in a specific content area or across various content areas.