Power standards and their associated benchmarks articulate the learning goals of a class while providing the faculty with a basis for developing instructional units, designing assessments of student learning, and selecting resources and texts for their classes.
Additionally, power standards clearly define the intended learning outcomes of each course for students and parents. At Windermere Preparatory School, power standards are synthesized from the Educational Records Bureau’s Comprehensive Testing Program (ERB – CTP4) standards and International Baccalaureate standards that are foundational for the school’s curriculum and instruction.
Teacher teams, led by members of our Curriculum Coordinating Committee, periodically work together to define and revise quality power standards for their courses. Attention is consistently given to the identification and management of instructional gaps and redundancies in the academic disciplines across all three divisions.
Additionally, teacher teams work to identify goals for each class that are consistent with our focus on the development of critical thinking, complex problem solving, and higher order reasoning skills in our students.
Our Sequence Model
Because of the focused work of our teachers, we are able to present a scope and sequence model of our curriculum that expresses the power standards for each course. This model provides parents and teachers with a high level view of the learning goals that we have for the students at each grade level, as well as a way to quickly understand the basis for each course in the school.
As you review the selected power standards here, please keep in mind that these are iterative documents. We are in the process of continually updating and improving our curriculum. Regular updates and improvements to the model should be expected.