What are Priority Standards?
Priority Standards help teachers focus and prioritize what is most important for students to know and be able to do in the time available for teaching and learning. Medical Lake School District teachers looked at what the state expects students to learn at each grade. Teachers asked themselves which of these standards best fit the key skills, concepts, and processes mastered at a given grade level. The teachers thought in terms of readiness for further study, leverage, and endurance.
1. Readiness for Further Study: Students should have an opportunity to master skills, concepts and processes that will provide the necessary foundation for being successful in their studies.
2. Leverage: Students should study skills, concepts and processes that have wide applicability to other areas of study.
3. Endurance: Students should study skills, concepts and processes that they will likely draw on throughout their lives.
Priority Standards are a subset of the complete list of standards for each grade and for each subject. They represent the “safety net” of standards every teacher ensures all students learn.
K-10 math teachers have developed priority standards. Other grades and subjects are still in development.