Standards

Vermont Middle Grades Teacher Standards
(Underlined terms are tags for MGI PLP)

The middle grades standards interpret “all young adolescents” to be inclusive, comprising students of diverse ethnicity, race, language, religion, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, family composition, regional or geographic origin, and those with exceptional learning needs.

Young Adolescent Growth and Development

Growth and Development - Middle grades teachers demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of the cognitive, physical, social, emotional, and moral characteristics, needs, and interests of young adolescents to create healthy, respectful, supportive, and challenging learning environments for all.

Diversity - Middle grades teachers employ middle grades practices that celebrate and are responsive to young adolescents’ local, national, and international histories, language/dialects, and individual identities (e.g., race, ethnicity, culture, age, appearance, ability, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, family composition).

Philosophy and School Organization

Philosophy - Middle grades teachers understand the major concepts, principles, theories, and research underlying the philosophical foundations of developmentally responsive middle grades programs and schools.

Democratic Classrooms - Middle grades teachers create and support democratic classrooms in which student voice and student-centered pedagogy empower students with agency and choice in their learning.

Structures - Middle grades teacher effectively employ practices such as interdisciplinary teaming, advisory programs, flexible grouping, flexible block schedules, personalized schedules, and common teacher planning time.

Grade Configuration - Middle grades teachers implement the elements of a middle grades philosophy regardless of grade configuration of the building.

Technology - Middle grades teachers understand the differential needs of students, including familiarity with and access to technology.

Curriculum

Standards - Middle grades teachers use their knowledge of student learning standards to design, implement, and evaluate developmentally responsive, meaningful, and challenging curricula for every learner.

Integrated Curriculum - Middle grades teachers help learners make connections among content, ideas, interests, and experiences by developing and implementing relevant, challenging, integrative, and innovative curricula.

Transferable Skills - Middle grades teachers create learning opportunities within and across their disciplinary fields that enhance students’ transferable skills.

Student Voice - Middle grades teachers integrate student voice into learning while strengthening students’ informational, critical, technological, quantitative, multicultural, and media literacies.

 

Instruction and Assessment

Personalized Learning - Middle grades teachers adopt a student-centered pedagogy that includes anytime, anywhere learning and provides multiple pathways for students to demonstrate proficiency including portfolios, performances, exhibitions, and projects.

Goal Setting - Middle grades teachers help students use strategies to identify, set, and achieve personalized learning goals.

Proficiency Based Instruction - Middle grades teachers engage students in challenging proficiency-based instruction that is personalized to be flexible, differentiated, ongoing, and targeted towards the specific needs of every student.

Calibration of Proficiencies - Middle grades teachers collaborate with each other and with students to define proficiency and determine progress toward achieving it.

Equitable Learning Environments - Middle grades teachers demonstrate their ability to motivate and engage all students and facilitate their learning through the establishment of equitable, caring, and productive learning environments and developmentally responsive materials and resources (e.g., technology, manipulative materials, contemporary media, personalized learning plans).

Engaging Local & Global Issues - Middle grades teachers use instructional strategies and technologies to help students identify, explore, and promote local and global issues of personal significance in order to engage students in their learning.

Critical Thinking - Middle grades teachers emphasize critical thinking, problem solving, evaluation of information, and organizational skills in addition to disciplinary content.

Multiple and Varied Assessments - Middle grades teachers measure students’ prior learning through a comprehensive and balanced-assessment system and adjust instruction and help students design their personalized learning plans.

Professional Roles

Developmentally Responsive Practices - Middle grades teachers advocate for developmentally responsive schooling practices and policies for every student.

Culturally Responsive Practices - Middle grades teachers understand and value the ways diverse family structures and cultural backgrounds influence and enrich learning.

Family Engagement - Middle grades teachers communicate and collaborate with all family members to build positive, collaborative relationships with families from diverse cultures and backgrounds.

Family Communication - Middle grades teachers employ technology so that teachers and families can enhance communication, collaboration, decision-making, and the ability of students to work at home. Middle grades teachers understand that access to and familiarity with technology differ widely for families.

Family & Personalized Learning - Middle grades teachers help families understand the systems used to support personalized learning (e.g., learning management systems, personalized learning plans, portfolios).

Community Involvement - Middle grades teachers partner with the local and global community to bring the community into the classroom and the classroom into the community.

Professional Ethics - Middle grades teachers model high standards of ethical behavior and professional competence.

Professional Dispositions - Middle grades teachers are continuous, collaborative learners who demonstrate knowledgeable, reflective, critical perspectives on their practice.