To help provide clarity for students, parents, and teachers, ADM Middle School utilized a four step process to clearly identify what it is that students need to know and be able to do in each course offered.
Standards Documents:
The majority of ADM Middle School Courses use the Iowa Core as the foundational standards to be taught and assessed in the classroom.
Power Standards:
Power standards are the “promises” that ADM makes to parents and students about what students will learn in the classroom. ADM Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) study the standards documents and use collective inquiry to determine power standards. To help focus this process, PLCs are asked to use the following four-part test when determining if a standard from the identified standards document should be considered a “Power Standard”:
- Endurance: Are students expected to retain the knowledge and skill beyond the unit and the course?
- Leverage: Will the student be able to apply the standard in more than one subject area?
- Next Level: Has this standard been identified as an essential prerequisite skill in the next course or grade level?
- Success on High-Stakes Exams: Is this a concept or skill that students are likely to encounter on state exams, college entrance exams, etc.?
Learning Targets:
To help provide clarity for students, parents, and teachers, ADM Middle School teachers transformed identified Power Standards into learning targets. Learning targets help to define Power Standards in easy to understand statements that capture the skills, information and processes that students will need to demonstrate in the classroom.
Please use the following document to access the learning targets that have been identified for each course at ADM Middle School:
ADM Middle School Learning Targets
Academic Rubrics:
ADM Middle School teachers have developed rubrics to assess student progress in meeting learning targets. Parents are encouraged to contact their child’s teachers for more information about the specific academic rubrics being used in each course. Please use link below to access the academic rubric template.
ADM Middle School Academic Rubric
Behavior Rubric:
ADM Middle School teachers have also developed a common rubric to assess student behavior. Please use the link below to access the ADM Middle School behavior rubric.