Model Academic Standards - Applying the Academic Standards Across the Curriculum

When community members and employers consider what they want citizens and employees to know and be able to do, they often speak of broad areas of applied knowledge such as communication, thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making. These areas connect or go beyond the mastery of individual subject areas. As students apply their knowledge both within and across the various curricular areas, they develop the concepts and complex thinking of educated persons.

Community members need these skills to function as responsible citizens. Employers prize those employees who demonstrate these skills because they are people who can continue learning and connect what they have learned to the requirements of a job. College and university faculty recognize the need for these skills as the means of developing the level of understanding that separates the expert from the beginner.

Teachers in every class should expect and encourage the development of these shared applications, both to promote the learning of the subject content and to extend learning across the curriculum.

1. Application of the Basics
2. Ability to Think
   • Problem-solving
   • Informed decision-making
   • Systems thinking
   • Critical, creative, and analytical thinking
   • Imagining places, times, and situations different from one's own
   • Developing and testing a hypothesis
   • Transferring learning to new situations
3. Skill in Communication
   • Constructing and defending an argument
   • Working effectively in groups
   • Communicating plans and processes for reaching goals
   • Receiving and acting on instructions, plans, and models
   • Communicating with a variety of tools and skills
4. Production of Quality Work
   • Acquiring and using information
   • Creating quality products and performances
   • Revising products and performances
   • Developing and pursuing positive goals
5. Connections with Community
   • Recognizing and acting on responsibilities as a citizen
   • Preparing for work and lifelong learning
   • Contributing to the aesthetic and cultural life of the community
   • Seeing oneself and one's community within the state, nation, and world
   • Contributing and adapting to scientific and technological change