Criterion one of the Teacher and Principal Evaluation Program is “Centering Instruction on High Expectations for Student Achievement” (CEL5D+, 2014, p. 1). Criterion one emphasizes the importance for teachers to execute lessons in which the objectives or learning targets are clear to students and connect to appropriate grade level standards. Students should also know exactly what they need to do in order to achieve those objectives. Criterion one also highlights the importance of engaging students in work of high cognitive demand. As teachers include all of these aspects into their lessons students benefit by becoming more independent learners, achieve greater academic success, …show more content…
The strategies she adopted included clearly articulating learning targets that are aligned with state standards, using data to provide targeted intervention(s), tracking student learning and giving formative assessments. Teachers also included the relevance and real world connection that can be made by what they are learning. By the end of the third year of implementing these strategies, students showed an increase in passing rates in most subjects. Students also showed an increased understanding of the standards themselves. Brennan also found that the students that made the most gains had teachers who posted graphic organizers in their classrooms which described the new standards and learning targets to be taught in each unit of study (Brennan, 2015). Therefore, basing lessons on grade level standards, and discussing the real world applications that that can be made, can help students understand the standards and increase performance on state …show more content…
The study specifically reported on teachers’ use of assessment criteria and standards with their students. Dargusch reports that students’ understanding of their goal, and success or assessment criteria, when compared with their own work, results in their ability to become more independent learners. The research in this study shows “strong connections between learning, student self-assessment and explicit criteria” (Dargusch, 2014, p. 201). Therefore, when the given criteria is taught explicitly, combined with self-assessment, it positively affects students’ ability to become independent