The following is an exerpt from the New Standards Project. New Standards would refer to this example as a content standard and performance descriptors. Please be aware that this example does not include examples of student work (that exemplify what meeting the standard work looks like), and a scoring rubric that includes performance levels. Under New Standards’ definition, all of these elements together constitute a performance standard.

Reading

Reading is a process which includes demonstrating comprehension and showing evidence of a warranted and responsible interpretation of the text. "Comprehension" means getting the gist of a text. It is most frequently illustrated by demonstrating an understanding of the text as a whole; identifying complexities presented in the structure of the text; and extracting salient information from the text. In providing evidence of a responsible interpretation, students may make connections between parts of a text, among several texts, and between texts and other experiences; make extensions and applications of a text; and examine texts critically and evaluatively.

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E1d The student reads aloud, accurately (in the range of 85-90%), familiar material of the quality and complexity illustrated in the sample reading list, and in a way that makes meaning clear to listeners by--

• self-correcting when subsequent reading indicates an earlier miscue;

• using a range of cueing systems, e.g., phonics and context clues, to determine pronunciation and meanings; and

• reading with a rhythm, flow, and meter that sounds like everyday speech.

Some examples of activities through which students might produce evidence of reading aloud accurately:

• Reading aloud to peers or younger children.

• Participating in a Readers’ Theater production.

• Recording an audiotape or videotape an example of reading aloud.

  Source: New Standards, Performance Standards, Volume 1 - Elementary School, (National Center on Education and the Economy and the University of Pittsburgh, 1997)

Mathematical Understanding

Arithmetic, Number, and Operation Concepts

The following is a portion of the content and performance standards for Arithmetic, Number, and Operation Concepts from the Vermont Science, Mathematics, and Technology Standards.

7.6: Students understand arithmetic in computation, and they select and use, in appropriate situations, mental arithmetic, pencil and paper, calculator, and computer. This is evident when students--

PreK - 4

a. Add, subtract, multiply, and divide whole numbers, with or without calculators;

b. Begin to use simple concepts of negative numbers, properties of numbers (e.g., prime, square, composite), three-digit and larger multipliers and divisors, rates, and the relationship among fractions, decimals, and percents; and

c. Describe and compare quantities by using simple fractions and decimals, and whole numbers up to 1,000,000...

5-8

aa. Consistently and accurately add, subtract, multiply, and divide rational numbers, and convert them into exponents;

bb. Interchange fractions, decimals, and percents; know that irrational numbers neither terminate nor repeat when written in decimal form;

cc. Show a sense of the magnitudes and relative magnitudes of numbers, and the helpful role of scientific notation; and...

f. Realize the inverse relationships between additional and subtraction, multiplication and division, and exponentiation and root-extraction.

9-12

aaa. Understand and use number systems: natural, whole, integer, rational, real and complex;

bbb. Represent numbers in decimal or fraction form and in scientific notation, and graph numbers on the number line in the coordinate plane;... and

ff. Understand and use unitary operations (e.g., opposite, reciprocal, absolute value, raising to a power, taking a root, and taking a logarithm).