Mequon-Thiensville School District

Standards-Based Learning

The Purpose of a Standards-Based Learning System is to maximize the academic achievement and personal growth of each student by focusing on prioritized standards that ensure students develop skills necessary to live a life of infinite possibilities.  

The students in a Standards-Based Learning System enhance their agency when they:

  • Articulate/explain the purpose of their learning
  • Identify what they are learning 
  • Know what success looks like  
  • Prioritize strategy and effort to demonstrate evidence of acquired knowledge and skills
  • Respond to feedback, self-assess their work, and reflect on their strategy and effort to inform or affirm next steps for learning
  • Engage in, and be responsive to, opportunities to learn

The teachers in a Standards-Based Learning System accelerate learning for each student and enhance their agency when they:

  • Establish a shared purpose for learning
  • Align learning targets & success criteria to the priority standard
  • Communicate the scale for success criteria
  • Develop tasks to gather evidence aligned to learning targets & success criteria
  • Provide feedback to students to inform or affirm next steps for learning
  • Plan engaging lessons aligned to priority standards that are differentiated & responsive to student learning needs

The administrators and specialists in a Standards-Based Learning System accelerate teacher engagement when they: 

  • Engage teachers in operationalizing the standards-based learning system 
  • Empower teachers to design high-quality instruction and assessment rooted in priority standards 
  • Articulate building-wide goals that advance the implementation of standards-based learning 
  • Design and facilitate professional learning opportunities to build teacher capacity 
  • Establish and support a culture of high expectations and rigorous opportunities to learn for each student

Common Language Used in Standards-Based Learning