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Standards
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Lower Merion School District has the challenge of helping all students succeed at high levels of achievement. Our goal is to provide students with the knowledge and skills for living and working in the 21st century.
Standards are general categories that organize knowledge within a discipline. They describe what students should know, understand and be able to do. Content standards define the knowledge and skills essential to each discipline or area of student achievement. Performance standards specify "how good is good enough". The standards movement embraces effort with the goal of significantly raising academic performance for everyone.
Our curriculum is designed and written in a way that identifies the academic standards or graduation standards for each of the disciplines and then by developing benchmarks at each of the grade levels. Benchmarks are a way to further define or delineate the standards. A benchmark is simply a statement that translates the standards into what the student should be able to do at developmentally appropriate levels. Students are expected to show proficiency of content and skills, through demonstrations and performances. What needs to be known is made explicit to students at the outset of instruction and achieved through active performance. Assessment is not just test-taking.
How do you earn a merit badge in Boy or Girl Scouts? You learn to tie varied knots and demonstrate those skills to the Scoutmaster. How do you get a Community Relations job? You show your perspective employer your portfolio of marketing concepts and publications.
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