What Learning Looks Like
Standards-based instruction is an approach to teaching focused
on clear statements about what students need to know and be
able to do. These statements, or standards, are the goals that
make instruction explicit and provide opportunities for students
to learn and practice the standards proficiently. Just as
standards provide the knowledge and skills of instruction, so
do the standards provide the focus of assessment when it is
time to measure learning gains. This is how the standards
can be used for aligning curriculum, instruction, assessment
and reporting with important learner and accountability goals.
Teachers and students can use the same information to understand “what learning looks like” while they capture
evidence of performance during learning activities. With sound instructional planning focused on a standard,
teachers can embed assessment within instruction. Students now have a clear understanding of the learning
benchmarks and exactly what outcomes they are being asked to produce. Using the teaching and learning cycle
as a guide, teachers will identify the type of evidence early in the instructional process and the best ways of
collection for the portfolio. This helps assure that assessment activities will provide meaningful and useful
information about actual instructional outcomes -- because what is taught and learned is the same as what is
assessed.
Describing the teaching and learning cycle --
􀂾 Preparing
o If working individually
• Determine learner’s goals
or purposes and prior
knowledge about the area
of interest.
• Identify the Standard that
will help the learner achieve
his/her goals and the
learner’s prior knowledge
about the Standards.
o If working with a group,
• Determine a shared goal or
purpose and determine
group’s prior knowledge
about area of interest.
• Identify the Standard that
will help the group achieve
their shared goal and the
group’s prior knowledge
about the Standards.
Preparation is the anchor for the teaching and learning cycle and makes
explicit the purposes students have for returning to school and grounds all the
instruction that follows. Being clear about goals and the skills needed to reach
those goals supports a purposeful and transparent learning approach.
Determine Goals Effective goal-setting is a complex process of identifying
long-term goals and short-terms steps to reaching that goal, exploring adult
roles and responsibilities, and beginning to take responsibility for learning. By
either working individually or in a group, the strategy of sharing and
discussing possibilities with peers is important as students build and refine
their goals.
Identify Standard After students have clearly identified a learning goal, the
next step of the teaching cycle involves the selection of a standard. This is an
important step in the standards-based process because it highlights the
difference between a curriculum that prepares students to carry out a particular
goal and one that only develops the underlying skill competency. By focusing
on a standard, students develop skill expertise that can transfer to new and
changing needs. The challenge for educators is to focus on a standard without
separating (decontextualizing) it from real-world goals. In this step, we are
identifying the standards that relate to individual students’ goals. Even if we
work with large classes, we still want to know which skills our individual
students need in order to achieve their own purposes. This is information that
will help us make instructional choices and be accountable to our students.
Determine Prior Knowledge During this time, the teacher will be gaining
information about what the student(s) know about the particular area of interest
PURPOSEFUL
CONTEXTUAL
EXPERTISE-BUILDING
TRANSPARENT
􀂾 Preparing
􀂾 Planning
􀂾 Teaching
􀂾 Assessing
􀂾 Reflecting
they have chosen to study and also what they know about the process of
reading, writing, or math. Standardized and authentic testing, as well as
questioning and informal surveys should be used to guide the teacher in this
phase.
􀂾 Planning
o Design a learning activity to
address real-life concerns of
the learner(s).
o Identify or develop a method of
assessment to capture
evidence and report learning.
In developing the plan, you will need to consider the kinds of activities needed
to reach the students’ goal, the Standard chosen to focus the activity, the
scaffolding or supports needed, and the learning strategies students will use
during the activity.
Address Real-life Concerns Since learning is a social process, the group
needs to plan and work together on ways to focus activities around a shared
priority. Contextual instruction in real activities supports the transfer of
learning to other areas of students’ lives. It is also important for students to
understand how this shared priority promotes their individual goals. Finding
ways to cluster individual goals into group ones or linking common concerns
back to individual needs, the teacher is instrumental in being transparent or
explicit about how these activities will help the students develop the skills
needed to meet their own goals and purposes.
Assessment Methods Performance-based assessment is a valuable tool for the
measurement of adult learning. Some advantages include a stronger link
between instruction and assessment, determines student progress, more
meaningful connections between classroom activities and the outside world,
and greater emphasis on content learning, problem-solving, self-reflection, and
interpersonal skills. Observing and documenting the dimensions of
performance (knowledge, fluency, independence, and range) is one way to
embed assessment.
Capture Evidence When developing activities, the teacher and student
determine ahead of time the outcome of the lesson by describing the activity in
an objective way. The product of the activity can then be used for the
portfolio. Remember, the learner must complete all the components of the
standard (not necessarily all the benchmarks) in order to say they have
“performed” the standard.
􀂾 Teaching
o Carry out the learning activity.
Although teachers arrive at this point with a carefully crafted lesson, it is
important to remain flexible as the lesson evolves while monitoring learner’s
skills, knowledge and abilities. Determining what materials to use and how to
keep everyone engaged are also challenges that occur during the teaching
process.
􀂾 Assessing
o Capture evidence according to the
plan and report learning.
o Observe and document evidence of
performance of the standard by
using the benchmarks
In addition to the tools you created during the planning stage, teachers may
want to observe informally. Keep a record of what you observe and turn what
you already do into evidence of student performance. This doesn’t have to be
elaborate, jot down observations on sticky notes and add to your folders. The
goal would also be for students to begin to track their own progress and
learning.
􀂾 Reflecting
o Evaluate and reflect on how
what was learned is
transferable to real-life
situation.
o Determine with the learner(s)
next steps to help learners
meet their goals
This is not the end of the cycle, but only an on-going spiral where students
begin the learning process again with a new goal or continue working on the
same goal or standard.
Reflection Students moving through the cycle have been reflecting on their
learning throughout the process. This culminating type of reflection gives
them an opportunity to “take stock” of what has been achieved and how they
will use this in their lives.
For more information about the teaching and learning cycle, check out the EFF Teaching/Learning Toolkit at
http://cls.coe.utk.edu/efftlc with many more resources are available at the EFF Special Collection