Standard FAQs
B”H
Their numbered components – 1.01, 1.02, etc. – are the Standards.
Their lettered components – 1.01A, 1.02C, etc. – are Sub-Standards.
Primarily, Version 2.0 includes a few new items in Standard 3: Vocabulary and Language (such as familiarity with לשון ציווי), which has affected the sub-standard numbering slightly, and a tweaking in the wording of a number of standards throughout to improve the clarity of the items. In the Standard 4: Passage Comprehension, “Finding the Main Idea” has now been included under “Higher Order Thinking”. This has affected the numbering in this section. Throughout the standards, there have been other minor changes to improve clarity and accuracy.
You can download a full comparison chart of the two versions here.
It’s normal for there to be a lot of variability based on school and community, not to mention student ability. These grade levels were based on a group of mainstream pilot schools, and are meant to serve as goalposts for schools to aim toward.
For some classrooms and settings, such as resource rooms, enrichment programs, or supplementary schools, the “level” model is far more appropriate. The beauty of the continuum that the standards provides, is that you can view the levels as a ladder to advance your students along. By assessing your students vis a vis the standards, you can identify where their starting point is, and set goals for what they will reach for next.
Administer a baseline assessment to determine which “level” of the standards each of your students is currently on. (The answer will vary not only per student, but also per area of the standards. For example, a child on a grade 2 level in Language Skills may be on a grade 6 level in Comprehension. For this reason, it is advisable to assess one area of the standards at a time in such a situation.)
Then, you can customize learning goals for different students, or different segments of your class. You now have a framework for planning differentiated instruction, and designing learning activities that take students up a level from where they are currently at. (For more on how to do so, check out the Menachem Education Foundation’s teacher training offerings at www.MyMEF.org.)
If this is not the case in your school, and students are on the whole at grade level (as reflected in the Portrait of a Student in the introduction to the standards), then you can use the standards for grades 7-8 as your reference point. Since independent learning is meant to be achieved in grade 6, grade 7-8 learning is very similar to high school learning. Standard 6, for learning Meforshim, is applied to a few select Meforshim in grades 7-8, but when applied to the full range of Mikraos Gedolos becomes a high school standard.
The key is to start small, and take off a bite that you can chew. By choosing one or two standards – the ones that you are most comfortable with, or those you think your students are most lacking – to focus on at first, you are accomplishing more than you realize.
Firstly, you are systematically building student skill in one area that you deem important for them (and as their teacher, you most likely know best). Secondly, you are building a habit of thinking systematically about what the components of Chumash learning are, and how to transmit this to your students.
Starting small typically snowballs, as it becomes easier to think of other skills and standards in a similar fashion. Your enthusiasm might be contagious, and you might find that your colleagues or administrators are catching on and might offer you their support and backing. But even if not, you are giving your students a gift of Torah study that no one can take away.
And you can always pick up a phone or send off an email, and our team of educators will try to answer your questions or direct you to the kind of support that you need.
Standard Area | Subject to Support Chumash |
1 – Torah Shebichsav Essentials |
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2 – Content |
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3 – Vocabulary and Language Skills |
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4 – Comprehension |
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5 and 6 – Rashi and Meforshim |
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In addition, many teachers have found that the standards have provided them with a framework for their own subjects, in their own right. Here are some examples for how:
Standard Area | Which Subject it can Support |
1 – Torah Shebichsav Essentials |
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2 – Content |
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3 – Vocabulary and Language Skills |
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4 – Comprehension |
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5 and 6 – Rashi and Meforshim |
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