Prescott Unified School District staff presented an overview of standards-based instruction to the district’s governing board at the Jan. 14 meeting, saying the district will use unwrapped standards, common formative assessments and scheduled professional learning community time to measure and improve student proficiency.

Kelsey, a district instructional staff member, told the board “Standards based learning is a continuous cycle of learning,” and said the district is prioritizing state standards from the Arizona Department of Education as the basis for instruction and assessment. She said teachers will use common formative assessments (CFAs) — short, five-question checks aligned to a standard — plus quarterly benchmark assessments to determine whether students are proficient or need reteach or enrichment.

The presentation outlined three core practices the district will use: standards-based instruction (the “what”), Beyond Textbooks materials (the “resources”) and professional learning communities or PLCs (the “how”). Beyond Textbooks — a set of unwrapped standards and aligned short assessments developed by Vail Unified School District — will provide teachers with detailed guidance on what proficiency looks like for each standard and ready-made CFAs. Kelsey said Prescott Unified adopted the materials to avoid “reinventing the wheel” and accelerate a 3–5 year development timeline.

District staff said the typical pacing in core instruction will focus on 5–7 “essential” standards per quarter rather than all state standards, so teachers can assess and intervene where needed. Students who are not yet proficient may be offered reteach opportunities or additional CFAs; students who reach proficiency will receive enrichment activities. Kelsey said PLC time is already scheduled on several Fridays districtwide so teachers can analyze data, plan reteach/enrichment and align pacing.

Board members pressed on two operational concerns: whether the district needs new staff to implement the model and how parents will read the new report cards. Kelsey said principals have reorganized master schedules and are using existing staff — paraprofessionals, interventionists and elective teachers — for intervention blocks and that the district does not anticipate hiring additional staff immediately. On parent communication she said the district has finalized a standards-based report-card template and plans informational events, parent-teacher conferences and explanatory materials to help families interpret reporting. She added kindergarten already uses standards-based report cards and the district plans a K–8 rollout next fall and a modified approach for high school, where letter grades and GPAs remain necessary.

Board members agreed to review a finalized report-card template in the coming months and to keep an emphasis on parent outreach and teacher collaboration as the rollout proceeds.