States & Standards

Standards in the States
Research, Articles & Editorials

Database of State Standards
Achieve, Inc. (current)
Founded in 1996 to help states raise academic standards, measure performance against those standards, establish clear accountability for results and strengthen public confidence in our education system, Achieve has assembled a comprehensive database of subject standards in each of the 50 states. The database is searchable by state, subject, content area, and grade level.

State Education Agencies
U.S. Department of Education (current)
Contact information and Web links to the education agencies in all 50 states.

Making Standards Matter Database
American Federation of Teachers (current)
Track states' efforts to implement standards-based systems (standards, curriculum, assessments, and accountability) in an easy-to-use, online format. Despite steady progress, the AFT finds that most states still have a long way to go in developing a coherent system of aligned standards, curriculum, interventions, and assessments. (Requires free download of Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

Ready or Not: Creating a High School Diploma That Counts
Achieve, Inc. (2004)
States' expectations for high school graduation remain largely discon-nected from the real-world demands graduates face in post-secondary education and in high-growth, high-performance jobs. This gap could cripple a wave of high school reform growing nationally, argues this publication from The American Diploma Project. Achieve, Inc, The Education Trust, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation and five states are partners in the diploma project, which has been working for two years to help states address this challenge.

Staying on Course: Standards-Based Reform in America's Schools: Progress and Prospects
Achieve, Inc. (2002)
Presents an appraisal of the progress, prospects and challenges that states committed to standards-based reforms have taken on over the last half-decade.

Assessment and Accountability Across the 50 States
Consortium for Policy Research in Education (2001)
Across the U.S., policymakers have adopted accountability plans in response to concerns about student performance. How do they compare? How are they being supported? This policy brief explores the issues.

Quality Counts 2001: A Better Balance
Education Week (2001)
States have invested enormous energy and political capital over the past decade in raising academic standards in American schools. A majority of parents and teachers believe those efforts are headed in the right direction. Quality Counts 2001 suggests those efforts also are beginning to pay off where it counts: in the classroom. Test scores are rising in some states, many teachers report the expectations in their schools are climbing, and educators are slowly changing the curriculum to reflect state standards.

Judge Your State or District Standards
American Federation of Teachers (1999)
A tool to evaluate the academic standards being proposed by your state or district using AFT's "Criteria for Setting Strong Standards."

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