May 1999
Introduction

Teams of teachers from school districts in CESA #10 wrote these K-12 Benchmarks in a series of workshops between January and March of 1999. (See Appendix A for a list of participants.) Wisconsinís Department of Public Instruction provided the funds for the workshops with a Goals 2000 grant to the Standards and Assessment Center at CESA #10.

What Are These Benchmarks For?

The CESA #10 Benchmarks backmap Wisconsinís Core Academic Performance Standards at grades 4, 8, and 12 into preceding grades. The Benchmarks help teachers identify targets for instruction and assessment in grades preceding those at which students and schools are held accountable by the state. The Benchmarks help teachers and schools decide what to do in grades preceding grades 4, 8, and 10 or 12 to help students develop expected levels of proficiency.
 

What Are CESA #10's Benchmarks Like?

Because the WI Performance Standards usually require students to demonstrate the use of knowledge and skill in complex performances, the CESA #10 Benchmarks are also written as performance standards rather than behavioral objectives, skills and sub-skills, knowledge to be acquired, learning activities, or other common formats for benchmarks. The rationale for writing benchmarks as performance standards is straightforward: Most students cannot develop proficiency in complex performances at grades 4, 8, and 10 or 12 without instruction and assessment in those kind of complex performances over several years. Students need to learn to use  the knowledge and skills they are acquiring, to the extent they can, at every grade level. The Benchmarks represent systematic sequences of performance standards culminating in the WI Performance Standards at grades 4, 8, and 12.

In addition to maintaining a focus on performance standards across grade levels, the CESA #10 Benchmarks also target the primary processes revealed through the action verbs in the WI Performance Standards. For example, if the target WI Performance Standard at grade 8 requires students to explain something, then the Benchmarks provide a framework for developing competence in offering similar explanations across several preceding grades. If the WI Standard requires students to evaluate something, then the Benchmarks provide a framework for instruction and assessment in evaluating those kinds of phenomena in preceding grades.
 

In fact, analyses of the WI Performance Standards across subjects (English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies) and grades (4, 8, and 12) reveal a great deal of focus on a relatively short list of processes: Describe, organize, demonstrate, for example, are pervasive. Figure 1 presents these common processes clustered in sets that might be useful as a framework for instruction. For example, given opportunities to organize data, students might be asked to analyze the resulting patterns, provide evidence to support their analyses, solve problems presented by the analysis, and evaluate the resulting interpretation or solution. The Benchmarks thus provide a persistent focus on clusters of processes that students need to learn within and across subjects and grades. (These ìhigher order thinking processesî are not independent of content in the Standards or Benchmarks. On the contrary, they are always embedded in critical content and subject-specific contexts.)

How Are the Benchmarks Organized and Presented?

In the CESA #10 format for Benchmarks, the WI Performance Standard is always provided verbatim (see Appendix B) on the left hand side of the page, and the Benchmarks that align with that Standard appear directly opposite in the right hand column. This format makes it easy for teachers to understand what each Benchmark aligns with without having to turn to any other document. The format also invites teachers to evaluate the  Benchmarks against the Standards and to fine tune or revise them in relation to individual school programs and student populations. Appendix C explains the alignment code for the Benchmarks.

The format of the Benchmarks varies somewhat between grades K-8 and 9-12 because curricula vary significantly between elementary/middle school and high school. The Benchmarks in grades K-8 are written by grade level. For instance, if the target is a WI Performance Standard at grade 4, then the Benchmarks are written in a sequence from K-3. These grade level sequences of Benchmarks align with typical curricula in grades K-8.
In grades 9-12, however, grade level sequences give way to courses typically taught at one grade level (e.g., Algebra I at grade 9). Even though these courses might be taught at other grade levels, the course content remains the same. Therefore, it would make no sense to write a sequence of Algebra Benchmarks from grade 9 to grade 12. Instead, the Benchmarks for Standards typically taught in high school courses are clustered around the WI Performance Standard, but the grade level designation is always 9-12, with no specific grade level designation. (The exception is English Language Arts, where the Benchmarks are written as in K-8.)

Another difference between K-8 and 9-12 Benchmarks appears in the extent to which the WI Performance Standards are elaborated in the Benchmarks. Whereas the K-8 Standards are nearly always elaborated as sequences of several Benchmarks, some of the 9-12 Standards may stand as is with no breakdown into Benchmarks. These occasions are always identified in the Benchmark document so users will not think something is missing.

Are the Benchmarks Complete?

Appendix D indicates the status of all the Benchmarks by WI Content Standard as of May 1999. The work proceeded by Content Standard in priority order (e.g., Physical and Life Sciences were top priority in Science). All the high priority Content Standards are complete as of May 1999 in all grades and subjects. Those few remaining Standards without Benchmarks at this time will be completed in 1999-2000.

How Should Teachers and Schools Use These Benchmarks?

The CESA #10 Benchmarks in the WI Core Academic Subjects provide a detailed grade-level or course-specific set of targets for instruction and assessment. They can be used as templates for curriculum alignment; lesson, unit, and course development; and instruction. They can also be used to guide the development of assessments and achievement reports, within and across grade levels and disciplines. A principal use, however, is to help teachers understand the Standards and the demands they make on students. This understanding is the foundation for all work on Standards and Assessment.

In the case of all these recommended uses, it is essential that teachers critically evaluate the Benchmarks from the perspective of their own students, their own colleagues, their own programs, and their own schools. The Benchmarks are in an electronic format to invite teachers to evaluate them, to fine tune or revise them, and to take ownership of them. As an off-the-shelf product, they are no more useful than any other off-the-shelf product. Adapted locally, they are a powerful tool to guide instruction and assessment.

Text by Ted Schuder and Barbara Price

Dr. Larry Annett, Director of Instructional Services, CESA #10
Josef Maurer, Director of Standards and Assessment Center, CESA #10

Please let us know if these resources are of value to you and how they might be changed to better serve your needs.  Special thanks to the many contributors to these efforts.

 
Appendix A - List of over 90 teachers and staff who worked on the Benchmarks.
Appendix B - The format of these documents
Appendix C - Explanation of Alignment codes
Appendix D - Benchmarks Status