Educational Standards and Curriculum Frameworks for
Teaching
Developing Educational Standards is an annotated list of Internet sites with K-12 educational standards and curriculum frameworks documents, maintained by Charles Hill and the Putnam Valley Schools in New York. Your help with updates or corrections is greatly appreciated. [This page was last updated on July 19, 2000.] -> Return to the Standards index page.
By Organization
National Education Goals Panel The National Education Goals Panel was set up to monitor progress towards Goals 2000 and to "assess and report state and national progress toward achieving the National Education Goals." From this site you can examine the eight national education goals set up by Congress and state governors, review national and state "scorecards" for 1998 and 1999 that provide data for 34 different progress indicators, and compare the results for up to three states at a time. The site also has a publications page with free ordering instructions and download links for quite a few documents. [Thanks to Kirk Winters of the USDOE for keeping people informed about this and other DOE-related programs via his regular mailings.)
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education is working with the Council for Basic Education on a Standards-based Teacher Education Project (STEP) to examine and improve teacher education programs in light of local and state standards.
American Association of School Administrators The American Association of School Administrators has a section on Assessments/Standards with links to various articles and reports the organizaion has sponsored over the past several years. These include a December 1999 article about dissatisfaction with high-stakes testing, a November 1999 article about how schools can prepare effective "report cards" for their communities, and quite a few other articles - and links to external sites and reports. In April 1999, the AASA magazine, School Administrator, published an article about Technological Literacy for Administrators that offers rubrics "to determine what you and other leaders should know and be able to do with information technologies."
American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society has created a Health for Success site containing the National Health Education Standards and a considerable body of supporting material. The latter include a page listing the standards and providing, for each, a rationale and performance indicators for grades K-4, 5-8, and 9-11. A separate page, called Opportunity-to-Learn Standards for Health Education presents separate standards lists for local education agencies, family and community agencies, state education and health agencies, teacher preparation institutions, and national education agencies. [Thanks to Therese Sarah, formerly of McREL, for alerting me to this site and to Jim Bogden of NASBE for notification of a link change.]
Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence The Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence (CREDE), based at the University of California at Santa Cruz, is working on Standards for Effective Teaching and Learning. The standards represent a synthesis of research literature regarding which instructional practices appear effective regardless of subject area or of student or teacher age or background. The CREDE web site presents five such standards, along with performance indicators for teachers.
Council for Exceptional Children The Council for Exceptional Children has published several Professional Standards documents about teachers and teaching. These include international standards for entry into the field, standards of ethics and practice, a knowledge and skills standards for paraeducators.
Education Commission of the States The Education Commission of the States has a varied and often changing set of documents related to standards. In late January 2000 the home page featured a December 1999 report on ways states are using "report cards" as part of their assessment programs (also available as an Adobe Acrobat file) and a January 2000 chart summarizing the status of professional standards boards in the various states. Several earlier reports in the Information Clearinghouse section, under the topic of standards.
International Society for Technology in Education The International Society for Technology in Education has developed National Standards for Technology in Teacher Preparation that apply to college-level teacher preparation programs. Among the various sets of standards linked to this site are ones dealing with the kind of education those programs should provide their students, another set that details the skills and conceptual base students should have mastered at the time they begin their teaching careers, and an advanced set of standards for advanced students. The ISTE standards have been adopted by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). (Thanks to Talbot Bielefeldt of ISTE and to Therese Sarah, formerly of McREL, for update information.)
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy Press, a publication arm of the National Academy of Sciences, has placed the extensive and comprehensive National Science Education Standards on line. The site's table of contents can take you to a history, overview, and rationale for the standards; teaching standards, with some example activities; professional development standards; assessment standards; content standards; program standards; science education system standards; reference material; and credits, an epilogue, and an appendix. Individual pages do much more than follow a typical one or two sentence listing of standards of the kind often found elsewhere. Clear prose explains each standard, suggests teaching strategies, and offers clear and compelling reasons why science should be taught as a hands-on subject. Particularly useful are the numerous links to other pages among the standards documents, making it easy to follow a side path and them come back to the document you started on. This site should serve as a exemplar to other organizations placing their standards documents on line.
The NAS has also posted its assessment of what a science teacher preparation program ought to look like. Its Science Teacher Preparation in an Era of Standards-Based Reform contains seven vision statements, each with a set of recommended actions for the National Science Foundation.
National Arts Education Association The National Arts Education Association offers various documents for sale from its Publication List. These include Standards for Art Teacher Preparation, The National Visual Arts Standards, and Purposes, Principles, and Standards for School Art Programs.
National Association for Sport and Physical Education The National Association for Sport and Physical Education's site contains several resources. The National Standards for Physical Education lists seven standards along with some background information and a rationale. The National Standards for Athletic Coaches presents 37 standards. More expansive versions of both documents can be purchased from NASPE. Publications dealing with Basic Standards for Professional Preparation in Exercise Science and National Standards for Beginning Physical Education Teachers can be ordered but do not have online excerpts.
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is an independent organization working to develop professional standards for teachers. Its site currently offers a policy statement and five propositions that form the rationale for the creation of such standards, a desciption of the process used for standards development, and summaries of the standards already prepared (full text copies must be ordered from the board). Standards documents currently completed or in preparation include general ones for teachers of all ages and content-specific ones for English, math, science, social studies, the arts, vocational education, ESL, and special needs students.
National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education page on standards has links to several key documents. First is its 1997, Standards for Identifying and Supporting Quality Professional Development Schools, along with a second report that specifically relates to technology. Second, anticipated revisions in that document appear in an Adobe Acrobat file called May 2000 Revised Standards. Third are new standards for elementary education programs. Fourth is a set of draft standards for professional development schools. And fifth is a page of links to program guidelines for seventeen specific subject and professional areas, developed in conjunction with related professional organizations. These areas include computing technology education, early childhood education, educational communications, educational leadership, English language arts, elementary education, health education, mathematics education, middle level education, physical education, reading education, school library media specialist, school psychology, science education, social studies education, special education, and technology eduction.
National Council for the Social Studies The National Council for the Social Studies has a Standards and Position Statements page containing links to an abbreviated version of Expectations of Excellence: Curriculum Standards for Social Studies and to its Teacher Education Standards. The latter is a lengthy presentation of what the NCSS believes individuals should know and be able to do if they want to receive degrees and certification as social studies teachers of what the organization believes colleges and universities should do to prrepare students to become social studies teachers.
National Council of Teachers of English The National Council of Teachers of English has a selection of resources dealing with the NCTE/IRA Standards for the English Language Arts. These include a list of the twelve ELA standards, selections from the organization's book about standards, and a link to a discussion forum. On a different part of its site, the NCTE lists excepts from the Guidelines for the Preparation of Teachers of the English Language Arts. (Both documents can be downloaded as Adobe Acrobat documents.) An online catalog lists numerous books that deal with standards. (Thanks to Martha Sierra-Perry for a link update.)
National Partnership for Excellence and Accountability in Teaching The National Partnership for Excellence and Accountability in Teaching is a collaborative of more than 30 educational organizations and colleges, largely funded by a branch of the US Department of Education. Its goals include developing performance standards and assessments for effective teaching. As of January 2000, a page on Standards and Assessment lists three core questions and the promise of more information to arrive later on.
National Staff Development Council The National Staff Development Council (NSDC) has created a set of Standards for Staff Development that focus on the best strategies for implementing staff training (and focus away from the simple act of counting participants as a measure of success). The standards page also has links to various articles that deal with standards-driven staff development.
New American Schools The New American Schools/A> offers various Publications related to its schools redesign mission. Among them is an Adobe Acrobat copy of How to Make the Link Between Standards, Assessments, and Real Student Achievement.
South Central Regional Technology in Education Consortium The South Central Regional Technology in Education Consortium has a Technology Standards for Educators page containing links to state documents from Delaware, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
Council of Chief State School Officers The Council of Chief State School Officers' site offers resources on a wide range of educational issues. Those directly relevant to standards and frameworks are grouped on a Standards and Assessments page. They include surveys of state progress on standards and examples of standards and benchmarks in math and science. They also have articles dealing with standards for teachers and school leaders. Recent documents include a December 1998 report on education policies in each state as they relate to standards and other issues, a 1997 report on math and scienct content standards, and several reports on model standards for beginning teachers.
Council for Basic Education The Council for Basic Education has set one of its goals as being reviewing various standards projects while a related goal is to help develop standards at a local level. With a motto of "Championing High Academic Standards for All Students," the CBE maintains an Academic Standards page that lists its current and past standards projects in various states and districts (it helps them review and assess their standards), provides answers for various frequently asked questions, and presents links to several articles. Elsewhere on its site it sells a kit to help districts with their standards, shows the findings of a 1998 poll it conducted about the public's view of standards, describes the Standards-based Teacher Education Project that aims to help colleges prepare k-12 teachers to work with standards, and presents Schools Around the World, an examination of the educational systems (including the role of standards) of nine countries.
Mississippi The Department of Education has a site with brief descriptions of curriculum frameworks in nine subject areas. Some of these descriptions offer links to more extensive documents that offer comprehensive information about the frameworks, their rationales, benchmarks, and specific instructional and resource recommendations; several lead to little more than course descriptions. Individual documents (and their dates of publication or update) are available for the arts (1996), business (1997), health (1996), language arts (1996), math (1994), physical education (no date listed), science (1996), social studies (1998), and technology (1997). The Department of Education has also published the state's 1995 Mississippi Standards for School Leaders. [My thanks to Julia Menkee of MediaSeek Technologies for update information for this site.]
Nebraska The Nebraska Department of Education offers links to an Academic Standards page along with separate links to Adobe Acrobat versions of a Final Report regarding the alignment of certain national tests to the state's content standards. The standards page provides access to web and Adobe Acrobat versions of state standards for reading and writing, math, science, and social studies. A typical document presents an overview, a description of main themes, and sets of standards grouped by grade level (K-1, 2-4, 5-8, and 9-12). The standards page also has links to a definition and rationale statement from the State Board (called "A Special Message About Standards) and to an "Overview of Teacher/Administrator Education and Certification" that links standards and certification together. Finally, various curriculum departments maintain very helpful web sites that contain copies of their standards and frameworks, along with various curriculum resources. These sites include one for Reading and Writing Curriculum and Instruction (Thanks to echweb@nde4.nde.state.ne.us for information about this link), Business Education, Family and Consumer Sciences, Foreign Language, Health, Industrial Technology, Mathematics, Social Studies, Education Technology (which includes separate competencies in technology for educators and students), and the Visual and Performing Arts.
New York The New York State Education Department has a number of useful pages spread throughout its web site. These include:
November 1999 links to district and school level results on the state's new high stakes testing program. In this case, the links are for the fourth and eighth grade English language arts and math tests.
An EMSC Learning Standards section with links to pages with Adobe Acrobat copies of curriculum standards, frameworks, and resource guides in most subject areas. One of the Acrobat documents is an update on the relationship between the learning standards and the state's new assessment system.
The Curriculum/Instruction/Assessment and Regional School/Community Services Division has a site with links to documents about new state tests, the commissioner's teleconference transcripts, explanatory documents in English and Spanish for parents - and more.
A Fall 1998 web version of a slide presentation about standards called Overall Strategy for Raising Student Performance.
Adobe Acrobat copies of summaries and full-text versions of the new Part 100 Commissioner's Regulations. These regulations form a general link between standards and graduation requirements.
Information about the pending Annual Professional Performance Review and Professional Development Plan, that lacks only a September 1999 vote to become a Part 100 mandate. The amendment in effect describes general standards for teacher performance.
Results of the new state testing program, with links back to state standards. The Grade 4 ELA page for January 1999 is informative, but huge.
A copy of the Board of Regents Task Force on Teaching paper, Teaching to Higher Standards: New York's Commitment.
Draft Regulations on the Registration of Teacher Education Programs to Implement New York's Commitment: Teaching to Higher Standards.
North Carolina In 1996, the North Carolina State Board of Education approved both basic and advanced Technology Competencies for Teachers, including them as part of a five year cycle for license renewal. (If you want to see how your skills stack up against state expectations, you can take an online self-assessment.) [My thanks to Ron Wahlen of Conn Global Communications Magne for an update on this site.]
Tennessee The Tennessee Framework for Evaluation and Professional Growth contains a general description of the revised teacher evaluation process (approved 1997 for implementation in 2000) and links to both Word 6 and Adobe Acrobat versions of the entire document.
Wisconsin The Department of Public Instruction has its January 1996 draft Standards for Teacher Development and Licensure on line. This document presents ten standards and, for each, the knowledge, "dispositions," and performance a successful teacher should demonstrate.
Educational Standards and 
