Benefits of Standards Mastery

Written By Linda Patrell-Kim

Hello.


I am going to begin a comparison of different instructional strategies with a discussion on Standards Mastery, what it is and how it can help students.

In a nutshell, Standard Mastery is a strategy that involves teaching to the grade level standards. This usually involves an essential question that is derived from the standard and will frame instruction. It also includes a rubric for that standard broken down into attainable learning objectives written in student friendly language with achievement categories of basic-intermediate-advanced, or something similar. 

The achievement categories are set in such a way that students who are only able to achieve a basic understanding of the standard will earn a minimal passing score predetermined by the teacher.  Usually in the range of 70% to 80%.  A student who achieves an intermediate understanding of the standard can solve problems or answer questions about the standard in more detail.  A student who achieves an advanced understanding can apply their new knowledge in novel situations.

This rubric is for foundational base ten skills second graders will need to add and subtract with regrouping. If there was no intermediate or advanced skill, I blocked out that cell. This rubric is an example of how you can use Standards Mastery to monitor students’ progress. 

There are several benefits of this instructional strategy, including differentiation. Differentiation of instruction is critical for student achievement, and this strategy considers not only those students who struggle (basic achievement), but also those students who need more challenge (advanced achievement). Teachers can use information from students’ performance on the rubric to create small groups for intervention or extensions. In addition, Teachers usually give students multiple ways to practice and demonstrate their understanding of the learning objectives. 


Another benefit of this strategy is that Standards Mastery focuses on students’ growth during the learning process. While it will be possible to determine a grade from the rubric, the grade is not the ultimate goal. The goal is for students to demonstrate growth over time. This requires that students take a preassessment before any instruction to determine their baseline knowledge and ability. Teachers will use the information from the preassessment to inform instruction, including differentiation, going forward.

Not only will this strategy inform instruction, but teachers will always know how well their students are understanding and applying the new information. The rubric provides a snap shot of students’ learning that teachers can use with their observations and the preassessment to determine how they are progressing. Teachers can use this information to adjust instruction to meet the needs of the students. 

Standards Mastery instruction can be more work for teachers initially.  Units of study need to be created or revised based on essential questions and learning objectives.  Preassessments, rubrics and some sort of summative assessment need to be developed in addition to intervention plans for students at different levels of understanding. However, once these materials are developed, teachers are usually able to reuse them yearly with minimal revisions. Despite the initial extra work, this instructional strategy has the capacity to meet students where they are and support them as they move forward in the learning process. 

Now, this is a very cursory explanation of Standards Mastery. Here is a brief list of resources you can access to learn more.  

I welcome all thoughts, comments and questions.  Use the button below to share.

© 2025 Linda Patrell-Kim



Linda Patrell-Kim
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