Developing Educational Standards
Centers, Labs ...
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.
Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL)
The Center for Applied Linguistics, in cooperation with the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, has developed a set of nine ESL Standards for Pre-K - 12 Students. The standards have three goals, each of which has three attached standards. Clicking on any one takes you to a page that lists the standard; provides descriptors (brief statements that elaborate on the standards); states sample progress indicators for grades pre-K to three, four to eight, and nine to twelve; and offers (or will offer soon) "vignettes" - or sample scenarios for different locales and situations that show how the standards could be used. In addition, TESOL has an ESL Standards for Pre-K-12 Students page containing links to supplementary documents and instructional ideas. (Thanks to Chris Montone, Research Assistant and Webmaster of the Center for Applied Linguistics, for this information. He wishes to acknowledge the cooperation between TESOL and CAL and the work of Deborah Short and Emily Lynch Gomez. Thanks to Jennifer Locke of CAL and to Julia Menkee of MediaSeek , for an update about the standards. )
Center for Civic Education
The Center for Civic Education has helped develop the National Standards for Civics and Government (with funding from the US Department of Education and the Pew Charitable Trusts) and Civitas: A Framework for Civic Education (with the Council for the Advancement of Citizenship and funding from the Pew Charitable Trusts). Brief descriptions and ordering information for each are available on the center's publications page while copies can be downloaded from a page of curricular materials. Finally, an articles and papers page has links to at least one article about civics standards. (Thanks to Greg Synnott for the Center for this information.)
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.
Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards,and Student Testing (CRESST)
Run out of UCLA, the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) is one of the best sites on the web for K-12 educational research. Here you can find newsletters and technical reports (mostly in PDF format - which means that when you click on one of them, an Adobe Acrobat document will begin downloading to your computer without advance notice). While the reports generally deal with research about alternative testing techniques (and are definitely worth reading because of that), several refer to the alignment between testing and standards (the NCTM standards, for example).
Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement
The Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement offers summaries and full-text Adobe Acrobat versions of research reports, some of which deal with standards and frameworks. One report on "Standards for Primary-Grade Reading" examined state frameworks. It made several significant recommendations including one that they should be more informative, draw upon current research, and recognize the complexity involved in properly implementing standards-based frameworks. (Thanks to Terri D. Torkko of the Center for alerting me to this site.)
Center on English Learning and Achievement
The Center on English Learning and Achievement, based out of the State University of New York at Albany and in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, offers information (including some research reports) dealing with different methods of language instruction. It has placed some of its research reports online while others may be ordered from ERIC. Several reports deal with assessment and, indirectly, standards. While the amount of material concerning standards and frameworks is small, the reports are also worth looking at in the own right. (Thanks to Sherry Guice, Director of Educational Outreach at the Center, for information about this site.)
Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education
The Eisenhower National Clearinghouse has put together one of the richest and most valuable instructional resources for math and science education on the Internet - and not just for standards and curriculum frameworks (for example, check out their sites of the month selections - called The Digital Dozen). It seems as if every visit reveals some new article, reference work, teaching idea, framework, or classroom activity and it would be easy to spend hours mining the ENC site. Several good paths to follow include (but are not limited to) the Journal Articles from such sources as Educational Leadership, Mathematics Teacher, Teachers College Record, and the Middle School Journal . Some articles deal with standards, others with curriculum, the use of technology, and assessment. Clicking on a title takes you to the article. Short of having an extremely extensive personal library, with subscriptions to all these journals, you cannot beat the breadth and quality of information ENC has made available here.
ERIC
ERIC offers a wealth of searchable resources, ranging from educational research to lesson plans, all presented in an easily useable form. - The ERIC Database contains abstracts for a considerable amount of research over the past decade, some of which deals with content or performance standards.
- The Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation has a section on Goals and Standards, with links to various federal and ERIC documents about standards. The clearinghouse also provides access to a wealth of other information (including research and reports) and many related topics.
- The K12ASSESS-L Listserv contains an archive of discussions about assessment in general, with many messages dealing with proposed national testing or other testing related to standards and frameworks.
- The US Department of Education maintains a searchable set of research summaries of ERIC Digests from 1992 to the present. Typing in the word "standards" turns up documents about such topics as social studies, the public perception of standards, and standardized tests.
Learning Research and Development Center
The National Center on Education and the Economy and the University of Pittsburgh's Learning Research and Development Center are involved in a New Standards project that is developing performance standards (including examples) for English/language arts, math, science, and applied learning based on the national standards projects in those areas. From this site you can order the New Standards Student Performance Standards as well as look at samples from the various documents that make up this package. Also worth looking at are online copies of National Center Newsletters - which currently include one called The New Standard and a second called The Alliance. (Thanks go to Mark Collien, Web Master of the NCEE, for keeping me updated.)
Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory (McREL)
The Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory is one of the best places to go on the net for educational resources, particularly in the area of standards and frameworks. (Thanks go to Therese Sarah, formerly of McREL, for keeping me updated.) Some of its best offerings include: - Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education, by John S. Kendall and Robert J. Marzano. It collates and annotates standards projects from throughout the country in each of 14 content areas.
- Eight Questions You Should Ask Before Implementing Standards-Based Education at the Local Level, by Robert J. Marzano. It lays out options and makes helpful recommendations about everything from what standards schools should draw on (state, national, other) to methods of evaluation.
- Designing a Sustainable Standards-based Assessment System, by Don Burger.
- The Eisenhower High Plains Consortium for Mathematics and Science has a Summary of Analyzed State Curriculum Frameworks - an analysis of math and science frameworks from 33 states.
Nanduti
An offshoot of the Center for Applied Linguistics and the Northeast and islands Educational Laboratory , Nanduti offers a focus on the early development of foreign language skills. One part of its site offers and abridged version of the National Foreign Language Standards while another page is putting together links to standards documents from throughout the Northeast. [Thanksgo to Jennifer Locke of Nanduti for this information.]
National Center for History in the Schools
The National Center for History in the Schools (the source for the major US and European History standards projects), has the original National Standards for United States History for Grades K-4 and the National Standards for United States History for Grades 5-12, along with an April 3, 2023 press release about the revised standards.
National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE)
The National Center on Education and the Economy and the University of Pittsburgh's Learning Research and Development Center are involved in a New Standards project that is developing performance standards (including examples) for English/language arts, math, science, and applied learning based on the national standards projects in those areas. From this site you can order the Performance Standards Consultation Draft for elementary, middle, and high school grades as separate documents or as a set. Also worth looking at are online copies of National Center Newsletters - which currently include one called The New Standard and a second called The Alliance. (Thanks go to Mark Collien, Web Master of the NCEE, for keeping me updated.)
National Center on Educational Outcomes
Based out of the University of Minnesota, the National Center on Educational Outcomes conducts research into the use of assessments to measure education outcomes. It has a particular focus on looking at how programs ensure the equitable participation of all students, including those with disabilities. The site contains a lot of information about the organization. Some of its reports (including one on opportunity to learn standards) can be read on line. Most reports, however, must be ordered before they can be read in their entirety. (Thanks to webmaster Michael Moore for this information.)
New Mexico Center for the Education and Study of Diverse Populations
The Center for the Education and Study of Diverse Populations (CESDP) at New Mexico Highlands University maintains an excellent New Mexico Standards site. Redesigned in 1999, its subject area pages typicallly contain links to standards and benchmarks, sample lessons, relevant Internet resources, and performance standards. In most cases you can view all of these items on line and download an Adobe Acrobat version of the standards. Also on line is an informative Standards Primer with information about state standards, curriculum, and assessment.
North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL)
The North Central Regional Educational Laboratory maintains a teacher-focused site called Pathways to School Improvement. Containing an excellent set of reports, analyses, instructional ideas, and other information about critical issues in education - primarily in the fields of science and math - this site has become one of the most useful on the Internet today. (Thanks go to Jan Bakker for keeping me updated.) Among its current offerings are a page on Goals and Standards, which primarily has links to other sites. Pathways also has an outstanding set of articles, collectively called the Critical Issues series, which clearly, concisely, and in an intelligent and very informed manner discuss and explain the new math and science standards using linked references to the standards, explanations of various concepts, and excellent examples. These are pages everyone ought to read.
Regional Alliance Hub for Mathematics and Science Education Reform
The Regional Alliance Hub for Mathematics and Science Education Reform, also known as The Hub, is coordinated by TERC and funded by the US Department of Education to provide h elp in the areas of math and science education. Among its resources, this site maintains On-Line Communities (dicussion groups) on such standards-related topics as curriculum instruction and assessment.
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.
