A CONTRACT for the HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOM

by Allison Zmuda & Mary Tomaino

“Performance standards show me what the teacher is big. The previous year, students complained that they
looking for in an assignment,” we hear one student say to a would have done what we wanted – “if you had told us
classmate. “Standards make the grading process fairer,” sooner.” They also challenged our use of good and
replies another. excellent on the rubrics because these words were “too
Comments like these make our day. They come out of subjective.”
an experiment with the standards-based curriculum in What a change to hand out and explain an assignment
American Studies, a junior-year elective that combines with performance standards already attached! We all felt as
U.S. literature and history. Last year when we began if we had signed a contracted: “This is what we require. If
teaching together, we struggled to find ways to involve our you do it, you will get this grade.” Students knew that their
average-level students more actively in learning. Our job was to ask questions if something was not clear. This
students perceived us as too demanding: They felt that we eliminated grading surprises. If the standard was “The paper
expected more from them than they could give. No incorporates facts and data from readings and class
strategy or approach could bridge the gap between our discussions,” then the student included supportive details
expectations for the students and their expectations for from those areas to meet the standard. The student exceeded
themselves. We tried lectures, extensions, pep talks, extra the standard by including more details or fell below the
help sessions, “neat” activities, and parent conferences, but standard by being too general.
nothing worked. At best, we noted a temporary The fact that we entered into an agreement with
improvement for only a few days. At worst, we were students created an immediate feeling of respect. One
rapidly losing students. They became increasingly student commented, “I finally understand what my job is
dispirited and frustrated with the rigor of the course and how to get it done. When I do the assignment with the
content and the challenge of the assessments. standards right in front of me, I feel like I can do well. I
We wanted to increase their sense of accountability never was a good history student before because I never
while building their understanding of the long-term vision really got the point.” The grading process became
driving daily tasks. We tried rubrics and check- lists with concrete, up front, and honest.
varying degrees of success. But our attendance at a We sometimes forgot to include a standard for an
school-to-career conference prompted our new standards- assignment. For example, when we read the first drafts of
based vision. We realized that no checklist in the world a student essay on how the Puritan legacy continues to
would fuel success if students did not first understand how shape U.S. culture, we realized that we had forgotten to
the assignment added value to their lives and increased create a performance standard for “organization of ideas
their understanding of the course material. within each body paragraph.” Consequently, our grades
did not reflect students’ internal organization. We had
New Content and Performance Standards already resolved never to change a standard during an
Sitting at the conference table as the presenters assignment or to create a new standard during an
continued their workshop, we scrawled notes to each other. assignment or to create a new standard after the fact – and
Could we organize our course around content standards we stood by our decision. “You got lucky this time,” we
and set performance standards for them? told the students. “Next year’s class will have an
Back at school, we vowed to revise the entire year’s additional standard to ensure better organization. We
curriculum. But first, we needed to adopt definitions for would have held you accountable, but it is not fair to
content and performance standards. We finally agreed that change the standards.” Some students gave one another
content standards are the fixed goals for learning that tell sly smiles, as if they had gotten away with something, but
what a student should know and be able to do; performance the rest nodded approvingly, acknowledging that we had
standards tell what a student product should look like if it upheld our agreement.
meets the course’s content standards. We were convinced As we continued to honor our agreements with one
that students could improve their performance if we another, a reciprocal accountability emerged. Our students
explained the values that inspired a project and showed how worked to achieve the standards, and we worked to write
the grading standards reflected those values. Students standards that were clear, objective, and relevant. The end
would become more accountable for quality work. We result was that the quality of all our work improved.
hoped for added benefits: Our grading would be more
objective and would build mutual trust. By mid-July our Better Standards, Better Work
planning filled four three-ring notebooks. In addition to communication, trust, and account-
In September, we walked into class determined to run it ability, standards also provided a structure for discussion
in a new way. We would still teach a challenging and about assignments. Students referred specifically to the
demanding course, but without the mysterious goals and standards that they did not meet or exceed to find out how
grading criteria that many students expected from their to improve that skill or content area. When discussing
teachers. We soon realized that we were on to something project or essay grades, we had few emotional battles
because the nature of the student’s concern shifted – from We have learned that we cannot do everything. Many
“Why did I get a B+?” to “Why didn’t I achieve the of our favorite performance tasks were out of alignment
standard in this area?” - constructive discussions focused with our content standards. One painful cut was the
on improving performance rather than on negotiating removal of timed writing assignments during the fourth
points. Not surprisingly, more students took advantage of marking period. Although these writing assignments
rewriting opportunities because the standards provided a posed interesting and important foreign policy dilemmas –
concrete road map for improvement. such as discussing the legitimacy of atomic force or the
When our standards were weak or vague, we got into Marshall Plan and Truman Doctrine as the foundation of
difficulty. We learned to be wary of abstract words like Cold War policy – they were not in sync with our marking
smooth and flowing to characterize writing or displays period goal of using literacy and artistic expressions to
thought to describe the layout of a visual project. enhance the students’ understanding of war. We had no
Guaranteed, a student will say, “What does flowing writing intention of removing essential foreign policy discussions
look like? Can you really tell when you see it? Because and materials from the course, but we needed to
my writing flowed right from my head onto the paper”; or incorporate these subjects while remaining faithful to our
“Do you have any clue how hard I thought? Frank didn’t performance assessment goal. We redirected the foreign
think at all when he did his. He told me so, and still you policy work into problem-solving activities, class lectures,
gave him a higher grade than me!” and short reading and writing assignments. Our decision
Students know that we valued their input because we reinforced our commitment to preserve the balance
acted on their advice immediately by incorporating it into between rigor and innovation.
the next set of standards. With a good, well-written
standard, everyone feels respected. A poorly written one, Forging Ahead
however, gives everyone a headache. Keeping content and performance standards aligned has
A side effect that we had not anticipated was a steady been an essential part of our success. When we introduce
rise in our class grades. Many skeptics of performance- the performance assessment at the beginning of each unit,
based assessments and performance standards believe that students see not only our long-term goals but also how
this innovative shift comes at the expense of “real” daily tasks will help them achieve those goals. On any
learning. But as overall student performance improved, given day, both the students and the teachers can articulate
we wrestled with whether our standards-based work the short-term objective and connect it to the content
maintained the rigor of the original course structure. Did standards for the marking period and the course. This
our students earn their extra points, or had we unwittingly continuity makes every day feel important and relevant.
inflated their grades? After reflection, we concluded that As teachers, we are amazed at how often we now walk out
our students were successful because they understood what of our classroom feeling good about the day’s work.
each assignment required. The quality of their questions We will never be able to kick back and relax, confident
indicated that they were pinpointing areas in their own that we have done it all. We thought we had reached that
work and were concentrating on them. Now students bring point four months ago but had a rude awakening. We tried
us a draft, point to a place on the page, and ask, “Does this to use a “neat” performance assessment from the previous
meeting the standard?” school year that was almost in alignment with the content
We saw dramatic improvements in student work, not standards. We assigned students to take a walking tour of
to mention improvements in attitude, because students felt one of our local historic neighborhoods and to contrast the
confident and in control. students tried to exceed the houses with class readings that we had given students
standard, which often earned them higher grades. We were about early life in the town. Although we loved the idea of
able to point to areas in which they did well or improved. exploring local history and giving students an opportunity
The gap between student and teacher expectations to exercise their artistic skills through their sketches of
decreased because of improved communication and clarity. houses, the assessment did not help them address the core
We managed to maintain both the rigor of the course and content standard – explaining the impact of work and play
the good humor of our students. on life in the United States. This and similar experiences
reminded us that our work requires constant vigilance to
New Standards for Teaching guard the continuity of the course on a regular basis.
Our students were not the only ones who discovered But our vigilance pays off. One student noted, “With
more respect and success in the classroom. We, too, have performance standards, I feel as if I am more in control of
been inspired by our work with content and performance my grade in this class. This is the first time I have felt this
standards. The process of writing standards sharpened our way since I have been in high school.” Although we
vision and shook up our teaching priorities. After compiling continue to reinforce and review our standards, comments
a list of skill and content areas, we went through every sheet like this make our efforts all worthwhile.
of paper that we planned to give our students to ensure that
each assignment was necessary to help achieve our
standards. We managed to cut the number of class handouts
by 30%.
Allison Zmuda & Mary Tomaino are American Studies teachers at Newtown High School, 12 Berkshire Rd., Sandy
Hook, CT 06482