colorado state academic standards

colorado state academic standards

An In-Depth Analysis of Colorado State Academic Standards

1. Introduction to Colorado State Academic Standards

Teachers and other educators from across the state created the Colorado Model Content Standards to improve student achievement and motivate students to learn. Standards reflect the knowledge and skills that students need to know and be able to do at greater and greater levels of difficulty as they progress through school. Standards are organized into six “benchmarks,” or grade-level designations, to ensure that all students have opportunities to succeed and challenge themselves. Each benchmark builds on the knowledge and skills of previous benchmarks for a seamless upward transition. The concepts in the Colorado Model Content Standards are supported by the Framework for Systemic Change, which is the Colorado Model Content Standards for Educator Professional Development. Along with the Colorado Model Content Standards for Educator Preparation, these three components will work together to help create a Colorado system of education that benefits all students.

By adopting standards, the Colorado State Board of Education (SBE) committed itself to helping all young people become more knowledgeable and self-directed citizens and employees. The Colorado Model Content Standards provide a framework based on that commitment. Schools, districts, and communities will work over the next several years to find ways to help young people reach these standards and goals. These efforts are referred to as “systemic change” and will likely need the SBE to provide clearer standards for how to accomplish these goals. Systemic change will need oversight and flexibility from the SBE to be successful. Overall, assessment and standards will help the State Board know if the goals of the Colorado Model Content Standards are being reached. System accountability to the public will be an important function of the SBE. The SBE envisions a future where all Colorado schools are meeting high standards of performance and preparing students to succeed in the study of their choice after high school.

2. Development and Purpose of the Standards

The Colorado State Academic Standards are the expectations of what students need to know and be able to do at the end of each grade. They also stand as the values and content organizers of what Colorado sees as the future skills and essential knowledge for our next generation to be more successful. State standards are the basis of the annual assessment of student progress. The standards establish guidelines for what students need to learn, but they do not dictate how teachers should teach. Instead, schools and teachers decide how best to help students reach the standards.

The State Board of Education oversees the development of the standards and the adoption of the Colorado Academic Standards. The State Board of Education is the governing and policy-making body for public education in Colorado’s public schools. The State Board of Education adopts the Colorado Academic Standards and the Statewide System of Accountability. These standards are the items that students will have to know before they leave their current grade and how big of a part it will be of their overall grade (With the exception of Kindergarten, they do their assessment based learning portfolios and do not receive grades. **Note: in 2018-2019 Preschool is also doing assessment based learning and aren’t receiving grades.).

3. Key Components and Domains Covered

Three main components of the K–12 Colorado State Academic Standards for science are presented in this resource: 1) Rationale for and Backward Design of the State Standards; 2) Overview and Structure for the State Standards; 3) Descriptions of the Domains and Expectations That Have Been Identified Within the Interconnected Science Concepts Domain; 4) Domain details (K–3; 4-5; 6–8; 9-12). The intent of this first section is to provide background information and elaboration concerning the development and subsequent organization of the Colorado State Academic Standards and the 2020-21 review and revision process specifically for the science content area. The state standards, themselves, occupy a narrower middle segment of this resource and are presented in a tabular format for ease of reference.

The Colorado State Academic Standards are not meant to become a completion-oriented “laundry list” that students and teachers feel compelled to “get through” during the academic year, rather, the standards should be viewed and implemented as flexible blueprints or working structures that encourage and support meaningful content and performance indicators. Specifically, the Backward Design of the Colorado State Academic Standards designates an “end” that is meant to focus on achieving competence in the science content standards and nurturing an individual learner’s interest and goals and the development of the 21st century skills that are recognized as essential justifications for the study of science. The intended resultant promises of understanding, competence, and performance are explicit throughout the introduction and background sections of this document as well as permeating the performance expectations. The content standards and domain expectations that are identified serve as “means” to achieve “usability” while providing samples of content that any state-wide assessment could possibly target. To provide instruction that is relevant and coherent within and across grades and that develops competence relative to the contexts and applications identified in the State Standards for Science, the performance expectations need to be interpreted/implemented as relative targets for structured student learning.

4. Implementation and Impact in Educational Settings

The analysis of state standards conducted here sets the stage for an exploration of their specific use in educational settings. Common standards, like the ones developed by Achieve and the Education Trust, have the potential to impact in a number of ways. All students are expected to learn the same academic processes and content and must meet the same performance standards. In contrast, different standards may be established for different students or schools. This study provides insights into the ways states are addressing this issue, but it does not shed direct light on how standards might actually become operational for these alternative uses. At some point, however, it will be essential to bring this experimental question. States will be responding to that challenge both because the stakes have been raised and also because citizens and educators need to know what works and what produces positive results. School leaders at both the building and district levels must come to full grips with both the opportunities and the challenges presented by student learning standards.

Teachers must not only make sure they are challenging all their students but they also must ensure that these standards are both aligned with state standards and exhibit academic rigor. School leaders in both higher education and K-12 schools must keep an open dialogue about these achievement expectations to ensure that the transition to higher education is a seamless one for high school graduates. When college and university faculty expect students to reach higher achievement goals in high school, teachers must work to ensure they are prepared for success in our postsecondary educational institutions. Educational standards are this nation’s most important educational reform. They establish a platform for assessing the implementation of other reforms (e.g., improved teacher preparation, new forms of assessment, increasing accountability). And they provide a clear and concrete focus on increased student achievement. In today’s global marketplace, it is in the nation’s best interest for students to graduate from college or high school ready to rise to the challenge of higher learning or the world of work.

5. Challenges and Future Directions

There are several outstanding challenges that have not been addressed in terms of fulfilling the role the state content standards are meant to play in Colorado education policy. Another significant challenge facing Colorado is the absence of the alignment of standards, curricula, assessment, and the accountability policy that can motivate the actual institutional goals. Finally, Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) are making it clear that Asian countries, such as Singapore and Japan, have been extremely successful in improving their overall quality of education. With TIMSS results showing American students clearly not performing at the levels of their peers in other advanced countries, it is clearly time to take such a comprehensive approach if Colorado is to be successful in its goal of improving student learning performance. However, Colorado has begun to address some of the important issues in this area by raising high school graduation standards to match the state’s revised expectations for its standards. High school graduation requirements now are aligned with the concept of establishing state performance expectations which, if met, will result in success in applying state content standards.