Using Power Standards to Build an Aligned Curriculum : A Process Manual

The process outlined in the book begins by taking the local professional school staff through a systematic study of the state standards and assessment system. The book then outlines the process for the development of Power Standards, or succinct statements of the critical learnings, or safety net curriculum, that will be required learning in every grade and subject area. These Power Standards represent a learnable amount of the most critical, most important skills that all children must know and be able to do.Once these Power Standards, or end-of-year targets are identified, the same local group then creates Quarterly Instructional Objectives, which are specific skills which must be learned during the specific academic quarters of the year. This list of skills is developed by the professional staff to represent the way children best learn. These skills are then sequenced throughout the year to represent a logical, learnable sequence of learnings to allow the children to master the Power Standard. The Quarterly Instructional Objectives then serve as the platform for the development of local aligned, common, formative assessments. Since these Quarterly Instructional Objectives are specific skill statements, the writing or identifying of assessment items is a much simpler task that depends on and develops local expertise in developing aligned, common, formative assessments.There is a brief discussion of the internet-based software package available to facilitate all of this work electronically and to store this curriculum work on the internet, offering 24-7 access by all constituents with appropriate clearance.