Curriculum benchmarks are formal evaluations of student learning progress. They help educators evaluate student progress in the curriculum, so they can analyze, reflect, and plan future instructional decisions. In other words, curriculum benchmarks help educators understand what students have mastered and where they need further instruction.
Why You Should Use Curriculum Benchmarks
There are many benefits to using curriculum benchmarks. Perhaps most importantly, curriculum benchmarks help ensure that all students progress at the same rate. They also help educators identify concepts that are giving students trouble to provide targeted instruction. Furthermore, curriculum benchmarks can be used to track end-of-year standardized state testing.
How to Use Curriculum Benchmarks in the Classroom
Curriculum benchmarks should be created with summative, 3-dimensional questions (DCI, SEP, CCC) that assess each performance expectation (PE). These questions should focus on capturing students’ final mastery of target PEs and abilities to transfer those understandings and skills to novel phenomena.
Benchmark data will show results by NGSS dimension and performance per question. Educators can analyze data by school, teacher, and student. Results from curriculum benchmarks will inform points for remediation and focus for next semester.
We hope you found this blog post informative and helpful! If you have any questions about curriculum benchmarks or would like assistance implementing them in your classroom, please don’t hesitate to find a time in our calendar to see how InnerOrbit can help you achieve your goals.
