Session 2, Part 3: The Role of Standards When Developing Curriculum

Create Your Ideal Curriculum, Session 2: Decide What is Worth Learning

What are standards? A philosophical definition could be “the foundation for a journey toward excellence, and not confused with the destination”. Unfortunately, standards are too often treated as the ends instead of the means due in large part to standardized testing.

Concerns About Standards

One problem is the narrowing of the curriculum when literacy and mathematics standards became the primary subjects tested. Scores were made public and schools were soon judged by their communities based on these results. Subsequently, many schools focused on “addressing the standards” first instead of keeping students as the priority.

Yong Zhao, an education professor who grew up in the Chinese educational system, has observed first hand how prioritizing test scores for evaluating student success can leave little room for anything else that might be deemed lifeworthy (2012, p. 35).

“When all the energy and resources are poured into defining and enforcing the common curriculum and standards, nothing is…