• US Department of Education
  The US Department of Education has its own search site that allows you to search the department, any of its agency web sites (NCES, for example), or a Cross-Site index page that can access some 150 DOE-connected sites. It also 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.
  
  
• 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.)
  
  
• 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.
  
  
  
• 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 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. 
  
  
• Sports Media
  A HREF="Sports Media">Sports Media is an international sports organization, based in Belgium, whose site offers a range of instructional resources for physical education teachers. These include links to various standards and frameworks documents from throughout the US. To find these, go to the lesson plans section of the site and do a local search on either term. (Thanks to Guy Van Damme of Sports Media for information about this link.)
  
  

By State


• Alabama
  The Classroom Improvement Information portion of this site contains information about state standards within various assessment and course of study documents on the site.
  
  
• Alaska
  The Standards portion of this site contains content standards documents that are brief and do not address specific grade levels. It adopted its standards in the mid-1990s as �voluntary guidelines� for schools. In 1999 it adopted more specific performance standards for language arts and math. In 1994 the state created teacher standards. These were amended in 1997, the same year the state adopted standards for administrators.
  
  
• Arizona
  The Academic Standards and Accountability portion of this site contains content standards (adopted at various times between 1996 and 2000), AIMS (Arizona�s Instrument to Measure Standards) information and support material, and various test results. The Department�s home page has up-to-date information about what is happening with AIMS.
  
  
• Arkansas
  The Standards portion of this site contains current frameworks that specify content standards for grades 4, 8, and 12. Online documents contain benchmarks and sample curricular material.
  
  
• California
  The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing offers a wealth of information about teacher certification requirements and procedures. Its section on Standards for Educator Preparation and Competence includes links to teaching credential standards in general and to specific subject area and specialist standards. (Thanks to Bob Salley of CTC for this information.)
  
  
• California
  The Curriculum Frameworks and Instructional Resources portion of this site contains frameworks, addenda, instructional materials, and assessment information; links to related state sites - including the California State Board of Education [], which has copies for the standards documents for ELA, math, science, and social studies. See also "Standards-Based Reform in California" [] for updates, assessment information, and other resources.
  
  
• California
  The California Instructional Technology Clearinghouse maintains an impressive and comprehensive databaseof more than 3700 instructional materials linked to state standards and curriculum frameworks. You can search the database by keyword, subject, platorm, or grade level - or dig down into the areas of ELA, math, science, or social studies and do a search on individual standards. The results generally lead you to highly rated software titles (the rating criteria are described on the web site). (Thanks to Laurie Swiryn of Cuesta Technologies for information about this link.)
  
  
• Colorado
  The Colorado K-12 Academic Standards portion of this site contains model content standards for grades K-4, 5-8, and 9-12. Performance expectations are available for about half the subject areas, as of mid-2001. Links to lesson plans appear on a Standards in Action page while links to test results appear on a Student Assessment page.
  
  
• Connecticut
  The Bureau of Curriculum and Instruction portion of this site contains standards, frameworks, and some curricular material for the various subjects dealt with in Connecticut's Common Core of Learning (revised 1998) and for the professional knowledge and specialized instructional skills expected of educators by the state's Common Core of Teaching (1999). The department's site also offers Student Assessment information and reports.
  
  
• Florida
  The Sunshine State Standards portion of this site contains the standards in Adobe Acrobat format, along with links to course descriptions for grades 6 through high school and to downloadable "Curriculum Planning Tools" that contain both the standards and the course descriptions. Florida adopted its standards in 1996 in preK-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 configurations. It later added grade level expectations in the four core subject areas, intending to use those from grades 3-10 to drive upcoming state assessments in ELA and math (and, possibly later, science and social studies).
  
  
• Florida
  Florida Gulf Coast University School of Education has set up a SunshineStateStandards.net with links to the sunshine standards for language arts, science, social studies, math, foreign language, the arts, health, and physical education. Clicking on a link takes you to a page with that subject's standards along with clickable links to benchmarks for grades pre-K to 2, 3-5, 6-9, and 10-12. Some of the benchmarks have links to relevant lesson plans.
  
  
• Georgia
  The Georgia Learning Connection portion of this site contains features links to various ways of using the QCC (Quality Core Curriculum), including a searchable database of standards, web resources, and lesson plans. The most recent QCC revision took place in 2000 and appears to be ongoing.
  
  
• Hawaii
  The Standards-Based Reform in Hawaii portion of this site contains links to various state documents and sites, including "Hawaii Content and Performance Standards" and "HCPS Performance Indicators," both of which provide Adobe Acrobat documents.
  
  
• Idaho
  The Achievement Standards portion of this site contains standards documents and curriculum guides, including draft documents, to help local districts achieve a state mandate that students meet standards that are at least as rigorous as those set by the state.
  
  
• Illinois
  The Illinois Learning Standards portion of this site contains background information on the 1997 standards, the standards themselves, performance indicators (http://www.isbe.state.il.us/ils/descriptors.htm), learning resources, discussion groups, assessment information, and more.
  
  
• Indiana
  The Indiana Standards portion of this site contains standards adopted in 2000 for the arts, ELA, math, science, and second languages. PE standards are in draft form. Social studies standards should appear 2001. Documents generally contain basic standards and some curricular suggestions.
  
  
• Kentucky
  The Division of Curriculum Development portion of this site contains links to most state curriculum frameworks - along with course outlines, description of the "core content" in each subject area, and supplementary information about such topics as assessment and questionning techniques.
  
  
• Maine
  The State of Maine Learning Results portion of this site contains links to state standards along with an online newsletter, a forum, and information about state assessments. Maine's school districts are expected to wrap their instructional programs around the 1996 standards defined by the Learning Results.
  
  
• Massachusetts
  The Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks portion of this site contains current frameworks and framework drafts (ELA and Science/Technology, as of Spring 2001), updates, archives, and supplements. The last of these include a social studies guide for preK-4 and a framework for character education.
  
  
• Michigan
  The Office of School Excellence portion of this site contains links to the Michigan Curriculum Framework and its content standards and benchmarks in various subject areas.
  
  
• Minnesota
  The Minneapolis Public Schools has placed many of its Curriculum Standards on the district's web site. A typical set of standards lists major and minor headings, grouped according to student age (5-9, 9-14, and 14-18).
  
  
• Minnesota
  The Minnesota Electronic Curriculum Repository portion of this site contains links to content standards, learning activities, rubrics, and assessments. A separate Graduation Standards page explains and illustrates the state's basic and comprehensive assessment programs.
  
  
• Mississippi
  The K12 Curriculum Framework portion of this site contains grade level curriculum frameworks that include competencies, benchmarks, instructional strategies, and assessment ideas. The science framework was updated in April 2001.
  
  
• Missouri
  The Curriculum Services portion of this site contains the 1996 "Show-Me Standards" for fine arts, language arts, health and PE, math, science, and social studies (see, also, the original state plan); curriculum frameworks for these subjects; and links to library media standards. Business education performance standards appear on a resources page maintained by the Division of Vocational and Adult Education.
  
  
• Montana
  The Montana Content and Performance Standards portion of this site contains standards in Adobe Acrobat format, benchmarked at the end of grades 4, 8, and 12.
  
  
• Nevada
  The New Academic Standards portion of this site contains grade level content and performance standards, developed between 1997 and 2000.
  
  
• New Jersey
  The Standards and Assessments portion of this site contains the 1996 New Jersey "Core Curriculum Content Standards"; searchable state frameworks (most documents acquired through a search are in Adobe Acrobat format); assessment information and special education assessment accommodations.
  
  
• New Mexico
  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.
  
  
• New Mexico
  The NM Content Standards, Benchmarks, and Performance Standards portion of this site contains standards and benchmarks for grades K-4, 5-8, and 9-12.
  
  
• New York
  NYCENet, the New York City Educational NETwork has an Educational Resources page containing links to various city frameworks. In general, the links take you to lists of "curriculum frameworks expectations" for elementary, middle, and high school grades. Each "expectation" has a link to a relevant net site and some brief plans about what students should do at that site. This approach looks very helpful for teachers and most of the sites and plans are good, but teachers should explore the sites ahead of time, do their own detailed planning, and read the cautionary notes that accompany some of the site descriptions.
  
  
• New York
  In collaboration with the New York State Education Department, OCM BOCES (the Onondaga-Cortland-Madison BOCES Regional Information Center) maintains a State Learning Standards site that offers quick access to NYS standards, frameworks, and assessment resources for the arts; career development and occupational studies; English language arts; health, physical education, and home economics; math, science, and technology; and social studies. Checking on the Planned Assessment of New York State Standards page on a regular basis may also be a good idea, as the time and grades of their administration still appears open to some changes.
  
  
• New York
  The New York State Academy for Teaching and Learning promotes the development of standards-based student "learning experiences" and the assessment of the plans that underly those experiences through a peer review process. This site has the basic NY standards and is building a searchable database that will link learning experiences with state standards.
  
  
• New York
  The portion of this site contains learning standards, frameworks (including drafts), assessment samplers, and resource guides. Most documents are in Adobe Acrobat format.
  
  
• North Carolina
  The North Carolina Standard Course of Study portion of this site contains course goals and objectives, presented by grade level, along with links to background information and online resources.
  
  
• North Dakota
  The State Standards portion of this site contains content standards for the arts, language arts, health and PE, math, science, and social studies. Second languag content standards should be published in 2001 while standards for media/technology literacy are expected in 2002. The site also has performance standards for half of these subjects and standards-based assessments for math (pending) and language arts.
  
  
• Oklahoma
  The Priority Academic Student Skills portion of this site contains the 2000 revision of the state's curriculum aligned, where possible, with national standards. Documents are available as web pages or Adobe Acrobat files.
  
  
• Oregon
  The Oregon Public Education Network Clearinghouse maintains an Oregon School Reform site containing valuable resources related to state standards as well as to PASS. The Oregon Content Standards page, in particular, has a rich offering - including links to a searchable data base containing common curriculum goals, content standards, and benchmarks for various key grade levels in several different subjects. 
  
  
• Oregon
  The CIM Standards portion of this site contains inks to various standards documents, some of which are searchable (via the Teaching and Learning to Standards page) and most of which are in Adobe Acrobat format. Oregon recommends that high school students earn a Certificate of Mastery (CIM) to show they have met state standards in math, language arts, and science - and, in later years, in the arts, second language, social science, and physical education.
  
  
• Pennsylvania
  In 1999, Pennsylvania began a major revision to its academic standards. Proposed social studies, FACS, health and PE, arts and humanities, and science and technology standards can be downloaded from a Proposed Academic Standards site. The new, adopted ELA and math standards are incorporated into and can be downloaded from Chapter 4 of State Board of Education Regulations. Career Education and world languages standards appear to be under development.
  
  
• Rhode Island
  The Standards, Instruction, and Student Assessment portion of this site contains recommended content and performance standards for the Arts, ELA, FACS, health, math, and science.
  
  
• South Carolina
  standards and frameworks, assessment information, and resource links. Revised versions of the health, PE, science, and social studies standards were online in 2000. The revised math standards went online in January 2001. There is also a Condensed Version ... for Parents of the ELA and math standards.
  
  
• South Dakota
  The Content Standards portion of this site contains content standards, generally grouped by grade, for the arts, ELA, health, math, PE, science, second language, and social studies.
  
  
• Tennessee
  The Curriculum Frameworks portion of this site contains standards and progress indicators, grouped by grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12.
  
  
• Texas
  The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills portion of this site contains TEKS for high school courses and for each grade from kindergarten through grade 5, for ELA, math, science, social studies, second language, health and PE, fine arts, various career education programs, FACS, and technology.
  
  
• Utah
  The Utah Education Network has thestandards for the state's Core Curriculum on line. A Core Curriculum/Course Descriptions page has links to documents for major subject areas, with individual documents for grades K to 6 and documents for the secondary grades that are either grouped by grade or by topic. A typical document describes a course, lists core standards, and briefly describes student objectives that meet each standard. UEN also has a very strong set of links to Internet resources as well as to its own set of lesson plans (including a searchable Curriculum Database). A similar set of core curriculum resources is available from the Utah Department of Education's Curriculum and Instruction Homepage (some of which include links back to UEN's pages). Additional information in the areas of occupational, family and consumer sciences, and technology education appear on the Applied Technology Education page.(Thanks go to Ginny Gale from the UtahLink/Utah Education Network, June Matheson from the Utah State Office of Education, and Virgil Jacobsen from the Alpine School District in American Fork, Utah for UEN updates.)
  
  
• Utah
  The Curriculum Educational Resources portion of this site contains core curriculum, including content standards and (in some cases) links to related lessons in the areas of the arts, second language, health and PE, educational technology, ELA, library media, math, science, social studies, FACS, and occupational educaiton.
  
  
• Virginia
  The Standards of Learning portion of this site contains standards, sample curricula, resource guides and links for the arts, computer technology, driver education, ELA, health, math, PE, science, second language, social studies.
  
  
• Washington
  The Essential Academic Learning Requirements portion of this site contains standards, benchmarked at grades 4, 7 and 10, in the fields of the arts, ELA, health and fitness, math, science, and social studies.
  
  
• West Virginia
  The Instructional goals and Objectives portion of this site contains course expectations for kindergarten through the 8th grade in ELA, math, science, and social studies; for grades 5-12 second language; and for high school courses in ELA, math, health and PE, science, social studies, and the arts.
  
  
• Wisconsin
  The Wisconsin Model Academic Standards portion of this site contains web pages for the ELA, math, science, and social studies standards; links to Adobe Acrobat files for all others.
  
  
• Wyoming
  The State Standards portion of this site contains content and performance standards, benchmarked to grades four, eight, and eleven, for ELA, health, math, PE, science, second language, and social studies; draft standards for career education and fine arts. Most are available only in Adobe Acrobat format.
  
  

Other Countries


• Canada (Alberta)
  The Alberta Department of Learning/A>'s section on Student Programs contains links to outcomes and programs of study in most subject areas. Further information about standards and assessment appears on the Teaching page. Finally, an Information and Communication Technology contains outcomes, a curriculum scheduled for June 2000 implementation, and a significant body of resources related both the technological and the library media side of information.
  
  
• Canada (British Columbia)
  Curriculum and Resources BranchBritish Columbia Ministry of Education lists a variety of reports on curriculum and assessment on a Publications page. (Of particular interest are task reports for math and social studies, both released fairly recently). A separate Prescribed Learning Outcomes page contains outcomes links for most subject areas.
  
  
• Canada (Ontario)
  The Ontario Ministryof Education and Training maintains a Curriculum and Policy Documents page with links to recent versions of its grades 1-8 standards and curriculum guides for the arts (1998), health and physical education (1998), French (1998), science and technology (1998), language (1997), and mathematics (1997). Subject area documents contain introductory material and knowledge and skill expectations for each grade level. Online versions of the documents tend to be large (200-400 K) and take a while to load onto a computer screen. You can download Adobe Acrobat versions by clicking on a link at the top of each subject area page. (Thanks to Bill Grobe for this information)
  
  
• Papua New Guinea
  The International Education Agency of Papua New Guinea (an independent school organization) has placed the first two of eight standards documents on its web site. (Thanks go to Greg Whiddon of the IEA for this information.)
  
  • The Arts - not currently available.
  • English Language - not currently available.
  • Languages Other Than English - not currently available.
  • Mathematics - not currently available.
  • Physical Education, Health, Personal Development - Learning outcomes, presented in eight levels, each of which lists expectations for strands dealing with human development, human movement, physical activity and the community, people and food, health of individuals and populations, safety, and human relations.
  • Science - not currently available.
  • Society and its Environment - not currently available.
  • Technology - Student Learning Outcomes (presented in eight "levels," each of which lists expectations for strands dealing with materials, information, and systems) and Suggested Learning Experiences (one sentence examples of relevant classroom activities).