Academic Content Standards
“Clearly defined statements and/or illustrations of what all students, teachers, schools and districts are expected to know and be able to do.”
What are these statements? What do they mean? Standards describe the goals of schooling, the destinations at which students should arrive at the end of the unit or term. For example, most standards expect students graduating from high school to be able to write for different audiences in different formats — things such as reports, instructions, literary criticism, and persuasive and reflective essays — and to demonstrate a command of standard written English.
Note that the standard doesn’t prescribe how to get the students to this destination — that is determined by the curriculum. Standards do not prescribe any particular curriculum. Standards indicate what students should know and should be able to do at different grade levels. The teacher can choose whatever curriculum he or she finds appropriate to help the students meet the standards.
Standards are the WHAT of education while curriculum and instruction are the HOW.
