Elementary Education Standards (1999 ed-rev. 2003) - Summary
DEVELOPMENT, LEARNING AND MOTIVATION
1. Development, Learning and Motivation--Candidates know, understand, and use the major concepts, principles, theories, and research related to development of children and young adolescents to construct learning opportunities that support individual students’ development, acquisition of knowledge, and motivation.
CURRICULUM
2.1. English language arts—Candidates demonstrate a high level of competence in use of English language arts and they know, understand, and use concepts from reading, language and child development, to teach reading, writing, speaking, viewing, listening, and thinking skills and to help students successfully apply their developing skills to many different situations, materials, and ideas;
2.2. Science—Candidates know, understand, and use fundamental concepts in the subject matter of science—including physical, life, and earth and space sciences—as well as concepts in science and technology, science in personal and social perspectives, the history and nature of science, the unifying concepts of science, and the inquiry processes scientists use in discovery of new knowledge to build a base for scientific and technological literacy;
2.3. Mathematics—Candidates know, understand, and use the major concepts, procedures, and reasoning processes of mathematics that define number systems and number sense, geometry, measurement, statistics and probability, and algebra in order to foster student understanding and use of patterns, quantities, and spatial relationships that can represent phenomena, solve problems, and manage data;
2.4. Social studies—Candidates know, understand, and use the major concepts and modes of inquiry from the social studies—the integrated study of history, geography, the social sciences, and other related areas —to promote elementary students’ abilities to make informed decisions as citizens of a culturally diverse democratic society and interdependent world;
2.5. The arts—Candidates know, understand, and use—as appropriate to their own understanding and skills—the content, functions, and achievements of dance, music, theater, and the several visual arts as primary media for communication, inquiry, and insight among elementary students;
2.6. Health education—Candidates know, understand, and use the major concepts in the subject matter of health education to create opportunities for student development and practice of skills that contribute to good health;
2.7. Physical education—Candidates know, understand, and use—as appropriate to their own understanding and skills—human movement and physical activity as central elements to foster active, healthy life styles and enhanced quality of life for elementary students;
2.8. Connections across the curriculum—Candidates know, understand, and use the connections among concepts, procedures, and applications from content areas to motivate elementary students, build understanding, and encourage the application of knowledge, skills, and ideas to real world issues.
INSTRUCTION
3.1. Integrating and applying knowledge for instruction—Candidates plan and implement instruction based on knowledge of students, learning theory, subject matter, curricular goals, and community;
3.2. Adaptation to diverse students--Candidates understand how elementary students differ in their development and approaches to learning, and create instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse students;
3.3. Development of critical thinking, problem solving, performance skills--Candidates understand and use a variety of teaching strategies that encourage elementary students’ development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills;
3.4. Active engagement in learning--Candidates use their knowledge and understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior among students at the K-6 level to foster active engagement in learning, self motivation, and positive social interaction and to create supportive learning environments;
3.5. Communication to foster collaboration—Candidates use their knowledge and understanding of effective verbal, nonverbal, and media communication techniques to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction in the elementary classroom.
ASSESSMENT
4. Assessment for instruction--Candidates know, understand, and use formal and informal assessment strategies to plan, evaluate and strengthen instruction that will promote continuous intellectual, social, emotional, and physical development of each elementary student.
PROFESSIONALISM
5.1. Practices and behaviors of developing career teachers—Candidates understand and apply practices and behaviors that are characteristic of developing career teachers;
5.2. Reflection and evaluation—Candidates are aware of and reflect on their practice in light of research on teaching and resources available for professional learning; they continually evaluate the effects of their professional decisions and actions on students, parents, and other professionals in the learning community and actively seek out opportunities to grow professionally;
5.3. Collaboration with families—Candidates know the importance of establishing and maintaining a positive collaborative relationship with families to promote the academic, social and emotional growth of children;
5.4. Collaboration with colleagues and the community—Candidates foster relationships with school colleagues and agencies in the larger community to support students’ learning and well-being.
FULL TEXT of ELEMENTARY EDUCATION STANDARDS
Rubrics for the standards can be accessed at this link: http://www.udel.edu/bateman/acei/Rubrics.htm
DEVELOPMENT, LEARNING, AND MOTIVATION
STANDARD 1. Development, learning, and motivation--Candidates know, understand, and use the major concepts, principles, theories, and research related to development of children and young adolescents to construct learning opportunities that support individual students' development, acquisition of knowledge, and motivation.
Supporting explanation
Candidates for elementary teaching base their teaching and related professional responsibilities on a thorough understanding of developmental periods of childhood and early adolescence. In curriculum planning, instruction, and assessment of student learning, they consider, accommodate, and integrate the physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and linguistic developmental characteristics of children and young adolescents. Candidates draw on developmental knowledge to plan curriculum that is achievable but also challenging for children at various developmental levels. They draw upon an in-depth knowledge of child and young adolescent development and learning to understand students' abilities, interests, individual aspirations, and values, and they adapt curriculum and teaching to motivate and support student learning and development. Candidates for elementary teaching understand that the ways in which cultures and social groups differ are important and affect learning. They recognize when an individual student’s development differs from typical developmental patterns and collaborate with specialists to plan and implement appropriate learning experiences that address individual needs. Candidates know that all children can learn when developmental factors are recognized, respected, and accommodated, and they demonstrate that knowledge in their practice. They consider diversity an asset and respond positively to it.
Source documents for Development, Learning, and Motivation
NAEYC Position Statement on Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8, National Association for Education of Young Children, 1997
NMSA/NCATE-Approved Curriculum Guidelines Handbook, National Middle School Association, 1997
Draft Standards for Teachers of Middle Childhood, Indiana Professional Standards Board, 1996
Promoting Social and Emotional Learning: Guidelines for Educators, Maurice J. Elias et al., Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1997
CURRICULUM
STANDARD 2.1. English language arts--Candidates demonstrate a high level of competence in use of the English language arts and they know, understand, and use concepts from reading, language and child development, to teach reading, writing, speaking, viewing, listening, and thinking skills and to help students successfully apply their developing skills to many different situations, materials, and ideas;
Supporting explanation
Candidates are adept at teaching the fundamentals of the English Language Arts. They model effective use of English, including its syntax, lexicon, history, varieties, literature, and oral and written composing processes. Candidates understand how elementary children develop and learn to read, write, speak, view, and listen effectively. They use their knowledge and understanding of language, first and second language development, and the language arts to design instruc¬tional programs and strategies that build on students' experiences and existing language skills and result in their students becoming competent, effective users of language.
They teach students to read competently and encourage students' enjoyment of reading through multiple instructional strategies, technologies, and a variety of language activities. Candidates teach children to read with a balanced instructional program that includes an emphasis on use of letter/sound relationships (phonics), context (semantic and syntactic), and text that has meaning for students. In addition, candidates teach students a variety of strategies to monitor their own reading comprehension. They are also familiar with, able to use, and recommend to students many reading materials based on different topics, themes, and a variety of situations and consisting of different types, including stories, poems, biography, non-fiction, many categories of literature written for children, and texts from various subject areas. As a part of teaching students how to read, candidates encourage elementary students’ understanding of their individual responses to what they read and sharing those responses. They help students think critically about what they read.
Candidates provide both instruction in and opportunities for elementary students to develop effective writing and speaking skills so that they can communicate their knowledge, ideas, understanding, insights, feelings, and experiences to other students and to parents, teachers, and other adults. They provide their students with many different writing and speaking experiences in order to teach the skills of writing and speaking. They enable students to explore the uses of different types of writing and speaking with different audiences and in different situations. Candidates help students develop their capacities to listen so that they understand,
consider, respond to, and discuss spoken material, including non-fiction, stories, and poems.
Candidates know what preconceptions, error patterns, and misconceptions they may expect to find in students' understanding of how language functions in communication, and they are able to help students correct their misunderstandings of the development and uses of language. Candidates use formative and summative assessment to determine the level of students' competence in their understanding of and use of language. They use the results of such assessment to plan further instruction.
Source documents for English Language Arts
Guidelines for the Preparation of Teachers of English Language Arts, National Council of Teachers of English, 1996 edition
Standards for the English Language Arts, National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association, 1996
Standards for Reading Professionals, International Reading Association, 1998
Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children, Catherine E. Snow, M. Susan Burns, and Peg Griffin, editors; National Research Council, 1998
STANDARD 2.2. Science--Candidates know, understand, and use fundamental concepts in the subject matter of science—including physical, life, and earth and space sciences—as well as concepts in science and technology, science in personal and social perspectives, the history and nature of science, the unifying concepts of science, and the inquiry processes scientists use in discovery of new knowledge to build a base for scientific and technological literacy;
Supporting explanation
Candidates have a broad general understanding of science and they teach elementary students the nature of science, and the content and fundamentals of physical, life, earth and space sciences, and their interrelationships. They are familiar with, and teach, the major concepts and principles that unify all scientific effort and that are used in each of the science disciplines: (1) systems, order, and organization; (2) evidence, models, and explanation; (3) change, constancy, and measurement; (4) evolution and equilibrium; and (5) form and function. Candidates engage elementary students in the science inquiry process that involves asking questions, planning and conducting investigations, using appropriate tools and techniques to gather data, thinking critically and logically about relationships between evidence and explanations, constructing and analyzing alternative explanations, and communicating scientific arguments and explanations. They introduce students to understandings about science and technology and to distinctions between natural objects and objects made by humans by creating experiences in making models of useful things, and by developing students’ abilities to identify and communicate a problem, and to design, implement, and evaluate a solution. They know naive theories and misconceptions most children have about scientific and technological phenomena and help children build understanding. Candidates understand the use of assessment through diverse data-collection methods as ways to inform their teaching and to help students learn scientific inquiry, scientific understanding of the natural world, and the nature and utility of science.
Source documents for science
National Science Education Standards, National Academy Press, especially chapters 3, Science Teaching Standards, 4, Standards for Professional Development for teachers of Science, and 6, Science Content Standards, 1996
Pathways to the Science Standards: Elementary School Edition, L. Lowery, National Science Teachers Association, Arlington, 1997
Benchmarks for Science Literacy, Project 2061, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Oxford University Press, 1993
The Future of Science in Elementary Schools: Educating Prospective Teachers, Senta A. Raizen and Arie M. Michelsohn, editors, The National Center for Improving Science Education, 1994
NCATE Program Standards, "Programs for Initial Preparation of Teachers of Science," prepared by the National Science Teachers Association, approved by National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, 1998
Technology for All Americans: A Rationale and Structure for the Study of Technology, International Technology Education Association, 1996
Standards for Technology: Content for the Study of Technology, International Technology Education Association, March, 1999
STANDARD 2.3. Mathematics--Candidates know, understand, and use the major concepts, procedures, and reasoning processes of mathematics that define number systems and number sense, geometry, measurement, statistics and probability, and algebra in order to foster student understanding and use of patterns, quantities, and spatial relationships that can represent phenomena, solve problems, and manage data;
Supporting explanation
Candidates are able to teach elementary students to explore, conjecture, and reason logically using various methods of proof; to solve non-routine problems; to communicate about and through mathematics by writing and orally using everyday language and mathematical language, including symbols; to represent mathematical situations and relationships; and to connect ideas within mathematics and between mathematics and other intellectual activity. They help students understand and use measurement systems (including time, money, temperature, two and three dimensional objects using non-standard and standard customary and metric units); explore pre-numeration concepts, whole numbers, fractions, decimals, percents and their relationships; apply the four basic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) with symbols and variables to solve problems and to model, explain, and develop computational algorithms; use geometric concepts and relationships to describe and model mathematical ideas and real-world constructs; as well as formulate questions, and collect, organize, represent, analyze, and interpret data by use of tables, graphs, and charts. They also help elementary students identify and apply number sequences and proportional reasoning, predict outcomes and conduct experiments to test predictions in real-world situations; compute fluently; make estimations and check the reasonableness of results; select and use appropriate problem-solving tools, including mental arithmetic, pencil-and-paper computation, a variety of manipulatives and visual materials, calculators, computers, electronic information resources, and a variety of other appropriate technologies to support the learning of mathematics. Candidates know and are able to help students understand the history of mathematics and contributions of diverse cultures to that history. They know what mathematical preconceptions, misconceptions, and error patterns to look for in elementary student work as a basis to improve understanding and construct appropriate learning experiences and assessments.
Source documents for mathematics
Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1991
Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics, NCTM, 1989
Principles and Standards 2000 for School Mathematics, NCTM, (forthcoming, April 2000)
Assessment Standards for School Mathematics, NCTM, 1995
NCATE Program Standards, "Programs for Initial Preparation of Teachers of Mathematics,” prepared by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, approved by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, 1998
STANDARD 2.4. Social studies--Candidates know, understand, and use the major concepts and modes of inquiry from the social studies--the integrated study of history, geography, the social sciences, and other related areas--to promote elementary students' abilities to make informed decisions as citizens of a culturally diverse democratic society and interdependent world;
Supporting explanation
The social studies include history, geography, the social sciences (such as anthropology, archaeology, economics, political science, psychology, and sociology) and other related areas (such as humanities, law, philosophy, religion, mathematics, science and technology). Candidates are able to use knowledge, skills, and dispositions from social studies to organize and provide integrated instruction in grades K-6 for the study of major themes, concepts and modes of inquiry drawn from academic fields that address: (1) culture; (2) time, continuity, and change; (3) people, places, and environment; (4) individual development and identity; (5) individuals, groups, and institutions; (6) power, governance, and authority; (7) production, distribution, and consumption; (8) science, technology, and society; (9) global connections; and (10) civic ideals and practices. Candidates use their knowledge of social studies to help students learn about academic fields of knowledge, as well as major themes that integrate knowledge across academic fields. They develop experiences to help elementary students learn about the historical development of democratic values; the basic principles of government and citizenship in a democratic republic; the past, present, and future; spatial relations; the development of nations, institutions, economic systems, culture, and cultural diversity; the influences of belief systems; and the humanities. Candidates are able to help students read, write, listen, discuss, speak, and research to build background knowledge; examine a variety of sources (e.g., primary and secondary sources, maps, statistical data, and electronic technology-based information); acquire and manipulate data; analyze points of view; formulate well-supported oral and written arguments, policies, and positions; construct new knowledge and apply knowledge in new settings. They use formative and summative assessments in planning and implementing instruction.
Source documents for social studies
NCSS Standards for Social Studies Teachers, National Council for the Social Studies, 1998
Expectations of Excellence: Curriculum Standards for Social Studies, National Council for the Social Studies, 1994
National Standards for History, National Center for History in the Schools, 1996
Geography for Life: National Geography Standards, The Geographic Education Standards Project, National Geographic Society, 1994
Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics, The National Council on Economic Education, 1997
National Standards for Civics and Government, Center for Civic Education, 1994
STANDARD 2.5. The arts—Candidates know, understand, and use—as appropriate to their own knowledge and skills—the content, functions, and achievements of dance, music, theater, and the several visual arts as primary media for communication, inquiry, and insight among elementary students;
Supporting explanation
Candidates understand distinctions and connections between arts study and arts experiences. They recognize that arts instruction must be sequential. Candidates encourage the kind of study and active participation that leads to competence and appreciation. Consistent with their own knowledge and skills in the arts disciplines, they work alone, with arts specialist teachers, and/or with other qualified arts professionals enabling students: (1) to communicate at a basic level in the four arts disciplines--dance, music, theater, and the visual arts-- including knowledge and skills in the use of basic vocabularies, materials, traditional and technology-based tools, techniques, and thinking processes of each arts discipline; (2) to develop and present basic analyses of works of art from structural, historical, and cultural perspectives; (3) to have an informed acquaintance with exemplary works of art from a variety of cultures and historical periods; and (4) to relate basic types of arts knowledge and skills within and across the arts disciplines, and to make connections with other disciplines. Candidates understand that student competence at a basic level serves as the foundation for more advanced work. They understand that there are many routes to competence, that elementary students may work in different arts at different times, that their study may take a variety of approaches, and that their abilities may develop at different rates.
Source document for the arts
National Standards for Arts Education; What Every Young American Should Know and Be Able to Do in the Arts, Consortium of National Arts Education Associations (American Alliance for Theatre & Education, Music Educators National Conference, National Art Education Association, and National Dance Association), 1994
