Effective instruction begins with high-quality academic standards that outline what students should know and be able to do at the end of each grade level. High student achievement is ensured when a district’s curriculum, instruction and assessment all align to adopted standards. A district’s curriculum describes what should be taught and is recorded in documents such as curriculum guides or maps, course syllabi, or lesson plans. The term instruction refers to how the curriculum is implemented and includes teaching techniques and the use of instructional resources. The purpose of assessment is to measure students’ level of mastery of the standards. Examples of assessment include teacher-made classroom quizzes and tests, iReady assessments, and Ohio’s State Tests.
Ohio's Learning Standards define what students need to learn by the time they graduate in order to be successful in college or a career. They explain the knowledge and skills students are learning in pre-kindergarten through grade 12 and are the framework in which we base our district curriculum.