State Education Standards- Part 3

How good are state academic standards? Are they better than two years ago? How many states now match solid standards with strong school accountability? Those are the central questions examined by this report.

This report delivers a wealth of information.

· For those interested in the standards movement in general, turn to the overview essay, "The State of State Standards in 2000."

For those interested in trends in specific subjects, turn to the analytic essays:

For state officials and other reformers interested in learning how individual jurisdictions fared, turn to our "State-by-State Reports." (Scroll down for links by state.)
For those interested in the nitty-gritty details, turn to the Appendices, where you will find detailed grades for every subject, the criteria used in the evaluations, a list of state documents examined, and a table on state accountability systems. (Scroll down for a list of appendixes.)

Source: Thomas B. Fordham Foundation

Each state in the U.S. has its own set of standards and assessment requirements. Links to the various state curriculum standards pages are listed below with a short description of what the standards represent in each of the states.

State Curriculum Standards

Illinois - Mississippi

Illinois

This document builds upon the State Goals for Learning established as a result of education reforms in 1985 and presents a more specific set of expectations for student learning. These expectations are stated as Goals for Learning, Standards and Benchmarks.

Indiana

Illinois provided a model for the nation a dozen years ago when it adopted 34 State Goals for Learning in 1985. These were "broadly stated, relatively timeless expressions of what the State of Illinois wants and expects its students to know and be able to do as a consequence of their elementary and secondary schooling."

The Illinois Learning Standards builds upon the State Goals for Learning established as a result of education reforms in 1985 and presents a more specific set of expectations for student learning. These expectations are stated as Goals for Learning, Standards and Benchmarks.

Iowa

This is a draft of the model criteria designed to support the Iowa Teaching Standards included in the Senate File 476: The student achievement and teacher quality program.

Although Iowa’s State Standards appear to be incomplete at this time, it does have links to numerous documents related to this issue. Among them is a document entitled Education is Iowa's Future: The Strategic Plan for Educational Excellence for the 21st Century – The State Board of Education Strategic Plan. This document gives and overview of what is taking place within the education department in Iowa and is a good starting place for those interested in Iowa’s standards.

Kansas

School Improvement and Accreditation oversees the accreditation of K-12 schools in Kansas and the curriculum areas. From this homepage you are able to link to the curriculum standards in a variety of subject areas. Of particular note is a special Just for Parents: A Guide to Kansas Curricular Standards that was prepared to help parents and guardians understand the academic expectations established for students through the State Assessment program and the Kansas Curriculum Standards for Reading and Writing.

Kentucky

On June 5, 2001 the Kentucky Board of Education accepted new performance standards that resulted from a comprehensive process involving more than 1,600 Kentucky teachers, various advisory groups, and which provided for public input.

The links at the bottom of this page on Kentucky Performance Standards allow you to review the descriptions that make up the standards. These descriptions define the performance levels of novice, apprentice, proficient and distinguished. They are not course outlines, but they do describe the level of student work that matches each performance category in each content area and grade level.

Louisiana

The Louisiana Content Standards were designed not only with subject matter in mind, but also to encourage students to use higher order thinking skills and associate learning activities with real world situations. These standards - Mathematics, English Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, Foreign Languages, and the Arts - are the heart of the Making Connections project and provide the context in which all resources are selected, presented, and implemented.

Alternate downloadable versions of the Louisiana Content Standards

Maine

Maine’s Learning Results were published in July of 1997. Since then, the standards established in the Learning Results have stimulated discussions among educators, parents, and citizens about how their local school programs will respond to meet these new, higher standards.

When the Maine State Legislature adopted the Learning Results, it also required that a new system for assessing student progress be established.

Maine’s Comprehensive Assessment System

Maryland

In 1989, the Governor’s Commission on School Performance created the Maryland School Performance Program (MSPP), an accountability system that would redefine what was considered acceptable academic achievement. First the program set standards for functional test passing rates, dropout rates, and attendance rates. Since 1993, however, the cornerstone of MSPP has been the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP), a series of rigorous tests given annually to students in grades 3, 5, and 8.

Understanding State Standards and Assessments

Massachusetts

Since the enactment of the Education Reform Act of 1993, a great deal of work has gone into developing the Curriculum Frameworks.

As a result, the Curriculum Frameworks are of high quality, results driven, and focus on world-class standards. Local communities use the frameworks to develop more specific curriculum, and the Department of Education bases the new student assessment program on the frameworks.

Michigan

The Michigan Curriculum Framework includes standards focused on content, teaching and learning, assessment, and professional development. Standards under development will address teacher preparation programs.

Toolkits to guide the use of the standards are under development. Toolkits in draft form address content discrepancy analysis, interdisciplinary connections, technology across the curriculum, and connecting with the learner. Additional toolkits and resources address specific content areas. These include additional vignettes, sample teaching and learning activities, instructional units, assessment guides, and professional development resources.

The complete Michigan Curriculum Framework document (PDF)

Minnesota

The Minnesota Electronic Curriculum Repository (MECR) is a quality-controlled database of assessment materials that supports the implementation of Minnesota's High Standards. Additional materials, written by teachers and other curriculum developers, are continuously added to the MECR database. The CLASS site will eventually house the State Standards and currently makes available data on annual tests, demographics, etc.

The Minnesota Electronic Curriculum Repository

Mississippi

Schools and Parents Partnering for Student Success was designed as a resource guide to help parents understand the Mississippi Curriculum Frameworks for Reading, Language Arts and Mathematics for kindergarten through eighth grade. The purpose of this publication is to provide parents with a description of what children are expected to know and be able to do in Reading, Language Arts and Mathematics.

This guide is downloadable in Word or PDF format