In MSAD #11, it is our goal to help students achieve the skills and inspiration to become life-long learners. We are in pursuit of high quality instruction in our classrooms in order to help all our students achieve their optimum potential.

I continue to hear about teachers' struggles with "Differentiation" versus "Ability Grouping," etc.

Of course, there is a time and place for both.

However, for me, the heart of the discussion seems to be the achieving of "High Quality Instruction" and the challenges of teaching and reaching all students.

No matter to what extent you ability group, flexibly group, choice group, force track, etc., you are still faced with 20+ students in a class who have a whole range of background knowledge, abilities, interests, and levels of engagement. There are students at the extreme ends that we seem to worry most about, but there is also a whole range in the middle of any class.

MSAD #11 has been working over the last few years to develop a standards-based report card, which is common throughout the schools. This is in line with an effort across the United States to keep better track of what students know in relation to the state standards. Below are some answers to commonly asked questions about a Standards-based Report Card.

What are state standards?