Standards for All American Students

Abstract

Unless you are setting standards these days, you seem to be out of sync with the field of education. A frenetic pace in the endeavor to set and refine standards is the norm for national groups in all academic content areas, health and physical education, the arts, and vocational education. National-level efforts, in turn, are picked up by most state education agencies, and by intermediate and local school districts. The national efforts alone have a combined budget of almost $10 million It is big business and high stakes for the entire educational community of the United States. After defining what standards are, and why they are important, we will summarize the standards-setting activities currently underway and give extended examples from mathematics and science. We will explain how and why these efforts are likely to affect all educators, including special educators, and all students, with and without disabilities.