The Standards Guides are booklets designed to make the academic content standards more parent-friendly as another tool for assuring that Cincinnati Public Schools' students achieve academic success.
Standards form the foundation of academic success in a standards-based educational system by clearly spelling out what students should know at every grade level. The standards reflect high expectations for all children. Created by the Ohio Department of Education, these standards also are designed to prepare students for success in college and the 21st-century workplace.
CPS has been at the forefront of the movement to use strong academic standards to set expectations for what students should know and be able to do. In 1993, long before the state developed standards, CPS began using its own standards to drive classroom curriculum and improve student performance. Now CPS has adopted the state's standards because the state's mandated tests are aligned with these standards.
Parents are being enlisted as partners with the district to improve academic achievement. The Standards Guides are designed to give parents a clear understanding of what their child is doing in the classroom and how they can reinforce the lessons at home.
The booklets – also called parent guides – are organized into three grade groupings for each subject area and are now available in four subjects (Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies). CPS may be the only district in Ohio to produce a series of parent guides to the standards.
The guides' goal was challenging: to make the language parent-friendly without diluting the content and to create booklets parents would keep and use. The guides cut through the cumbersome educational jargon while still showing what a student must know.
The guides are intended for parents' active use – such as using them as they talk about what their children are learning in class, looking over their children's homework, or bringing them to teacher-conference appointments to discuss their children's progress.
The guides feature an overview of the standards and give grade-level indicators – specific skills, knowledge and concepts that serve as checkpoints to monitor progress toward the overall standard. Throughout the guides, tips are included to show parents ways to help their child learn. A glossary is included of words and terms used in the guides.
The booklets end with pages for notes to provide parents space to jot down questions and observations to share with teachers. Extra pages for notes are available on the CPS Web site.
Colorful, laminated posters outlining the standards for each grade grouping are displayed in CPS classrooms.