ACCESS Virtual Learning at UA was featured as the Standard B Highlight in the June issue of National Standards for Quality S.I.P. (Standards in Practice).
Standard B relates to state and national educational standards describing the expected learning outcomes upon course completion. When the course content doesn’t closely align with these standards, students will not acquire the desired knowledge and skills. This outcome will influence students’ performance, motivation and overall engagement with the course, and it can also impact their ability to succeed in future courses.
In the S.I.P. feature, ACCESS Virtual Learning representatives Rachel Walker, Nellie Christian and MJ Ballard provided methods for implementing standards, summarized below.
Helpful Hints and Resources for Putting Standards Into Practice
- Engage with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs): Discuss the relevant standards with SMEs to ensure they understand and appreciate the importance of these standards. Include information on standards in SME training.
- Utilize Additional Resources: If a standard is unclear, take advantage of additional resources issued by educational providers, such as differentiated instruction guides, curriculum guides or appendices.
- Repeatedly State Alignment: Make alignment with standards explicit by denoting them clearly in lessons, using metadata for assessment questions, explaining how learning activities relate to standards, providing links to relevant standards in context throughout the course and utilizing Quality Matters (QM) annotations.
- Verify Alignment: Confirm alignment of standards by involving subject area reviewers in the development process, asking teachers for feedback on alignment in end-of-course surveys and establishing a remediation process when content and standards do not align.
- Prioritize Standards in Decision-Making: When making content-related decisions, prioritize alignment with standards, as many content issues arise from deviations or misinterpretations of standards. To identify how content, activities or visuals relate to a lesson, consider how it relates to the standard.
Check out the NSQ Professional Learning Portal and NSQ Website for more resources at www.NSQOL.org.