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| Wilkinsburg Utilizes the Pennsylvania Standards |
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| The Wilkinsburg School District primarily utilizes the learning standards set forth by the Pennsylvania Department of Education for math and reading, which also includes writing, speaking and listening. The Pennsylvania Standards specify the skills that students must know and be able to do at four grade levels (third, fifth, eighth and eleventh). These skills are briefly described below, and are fully explained on the Pennsylvania Department of Education web site. Click here for the complete Math Standards or here for the complete Reading Standards.
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About the Pennsylvania Standards |
The Pennsylvania Standards provide targets for instruction and student learning essential for success in all academic areas. Although the Pennsylvania Standards are not a curriculum or a prescribed set of activities, teachers and administrators do refer to the standards when building curriculum and lesson plans. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, "the standards reflect the increasing complexity and sophistication that students are expected to achieve as they progress through school...and that teachers shall expect that students know and can apply the concerts and skills" learned at the previous grade level.
By evaluating students' scores on the PSSA exams, given annually to students in grades 5, 8 and 11, the school district and the state can see the extent to which students are mastering the skills set forth by the Standards, and can adjust curriculum accordingly. The specific skills delineated by the Pennsylvania Standards are described below, as outlined by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
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Pennsylvania Standards for Mathematics |
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, students who achieve these mathematical standards will be able to communicate mathematically. Although it is an interesting and enjoyable subject for its own sake, mathematics is most appropriately used as a tool to help organize and understand information from other academic disciplines. Because our capacity to deal with all things mathematical is changing rapidly, students must be able to bring the most modern and effective technology to bear on their learning of mathematically concepts and skills. The standards are:
1. Numbers, Number Systems and Number Relationships, including types of numbers and equivalent forms
2. Computation and Estimation, including basic functions, reasonableness of answers and calculators
3. Measurement and Estimation, including types of measurement (e.g., length, time), units and tools of measurement, and computing and comparing measurements
4. Mathematical Reasoning and Connections, including using inductive and deductive reasoning, and validating arguments (e.g., if...then statements, proofs)
5. Mathematical Problem Solving and Communication, including problem solving strategies, representing problems in various ways and interpreting results
6. Statisitcs and Data Analysis, including collecting and reporting data (e.g., charts, graphs) and analyzing data
7. Probability and Predictions, including validity of data and calculating probability to make predictions
8. Algebra and Functions, including equations and patterns
9. Geometry, including shapes and their properties and using geometric principles to solve problems
10. Trigonometry, including right angles, measuring and computing with triangles and using graphing calculators
11. Concepts of Calculus, including comparing quantities and values, graphing rates of change and continuing patterns infinitely. |
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Pennsylvania Standards for Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening |
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, language arts are unique processes that students use to learn and make sense of their world. These standards define the skills and strategies employed by effective readers and writers, not just in language arts classes but in all subject areas. These standards also provide parents and the community with information about what students should be able to know and do as the progress through the educational system to graduation. The standards are:
1. Learning to Read Independently, including purposes for reading, word recognition skills, vocabulary development, comprehension and interpretation and fluency
2. Reading Critically In All Content Areas, including detail, inferences, fact from opinion, comparison, analysis and evaluation
3. Reading, Analyzing and Interpreting Literature, including literary elements, literary devices, poetry and drama
4. Types of Writing, including narrative, informational and persuasive
5. Quality of Writing, including focus, content, organization, style and conventions
6. Speaking and Listening, including listening skills, speaking skills, discussion and presentation
7. Characteristics and Functions of the English Language, including word origins, variations and application
8. Research, including selection, location of information and organization. |
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About the Principles of Learning |
The foundation of instruction in the Wilkinsburg School District is built around the nine Principles of Learning developed by the Institute for Learning, which was founded at the University of Pittsburgh in 1995. The Institute for Learning partners with school districts all over the country that are committed to standards-based education and system-wide reform. Its findings are based upon 25 years of educational research.
The Institute for Learning has conducted in-depth research studies to determine the factors that make student learning and achievement possible. Here is a summary of The Institute's nine key Principles of Learning:
1. Organizing for Effort: Schools must send the message that hard work, not aptitude, that matters. Therefore, schools should be organized so that students are given as much time and expert instruction as they need to master concepts. Schools should set high standards, and test students' ability to meet those standards.
2. Clear Expectations: Schools must explicitly define what students are expected to learn. Examples should be provided for students, teachers, parents and the community. When students understand what is expected of them, they can help evaluate their own work and set goals for their own effort.
3. Fair and Credible Evaluations: Assessments must be fair to students and credible to parents and the community, and actually test students on what they have been taught. Grading must be against absolute standards, rather than on a curve, so students can clearly see the results of their learning efforts.
4. Recognition of Accomplishment: Students are motivated by regular recognition of their accomplishments, such as meeting or exceeding standards of learning or making progress toward meeting standards. The criteria for recognition should allow all students to be recognized frequently.
5. Academic Rigor in a Thinking Curriculum: Thinking and problem solving must be based on a solid foundation of knowledge of major concepts that students are expected to know deeply. Students must be expected to think and reason about this knowledge.
6. Accountable Talk: Classroom talk should promote rigorous thinking by seriously responding to and further developing what others in the group have said. Students must learn to provide evidence for their statements and follow established norms of good reasoning.
7. Socializing Intelligence: All students should be taught that it is their right and obligation to understand and make sense of the world, not just in school but in every aspect of their lives, and to use their capacity to figure things out over time.
8. Self-management of Learning: Students must be taught to monitor and manage their own progress, notice when they don't understand something, and take steps to remedy the situation. These steps include asking questions that let students explore deep levels of meaning, evaluating feedback from others, anticipating learning difficulties and giving themselves more time to understand difficult concepts as they progress toward a learning goal.
9. Learning as Apprenticeship: Students can learn by working alongside expert adults. Schools should provide learning environments where complex thinking is modeled and analyzed, and by providing mentoring and coaching as students undertake extended projects and develop presentations of finished work, both in and beyond the classroom.
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Get the Pennsylvania Math Standards
Learn what math skills and concepts the Pennsylvania Department of Education has established for mastery at grades 3, 5, 8 and 11.
Click here for the Math Standards
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Get the Pennsylvania Reading Standards
Learn what reading, writing speaking and listening skills and concepts the Pennsylvania Department of Education has established for mastery at grades 3, 5, 8 and 11.
Click here for the Reading Standards
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