What do the Guiding Documents Say About Teaching Reading

• National Education Goals: Building a Nation of Learners

  Eight National Education Goals have been defined by the Governors and the Congress to improve learning and teaching in the nation's education system. The goals help provide a national framework for education reform and promote systemic changes needed to ensure equitable educational opportunities and high levels of educational achievement for all students.

• National Educational Standards

  Math, English Language Arts, Arts

• IRA/NCTE Standards for the English Language Arts

  The vision guiding these standards is that all students must have the opportunities and resources to develop the language skills they need to pursue life's goals and to participate fully as informed, productive members of society. These standards assume that literacy growth begins before children enter school as they experience and experiment with literacy activities‹reading and writing, and associating spoken words with their graphic representations. Recognizing this fact, these standards encourage the development of curriculum and instruction that make productive use of the emerging literacy abilities that children bring to school. Furthermore, the standards provide ample room for the innovation and creativity essential to teaching and learning. They are not prescriptions for particular curriculum or instruction. Although we present these standards as a list, we want to emphasize that they are not distinct and separable; they are, in fact, interrelated and should be considered as a whole.

• US Department of Education

  Alphabetic listing of Links to State Technology Offices, Officers, and Technology Plans. Click here to locate the standards for your state!

• California Language Arts Content Standards

  Download and review the standards for your grade level K-12.

• Criteria for Benchmarking Standards

  The objective, measurable criteria Achieve uses in benchmarking state academic standards fall into the following categories: Clarity and accessibility, Measurability, Comprehensiveness and focus, Balance, and Rigor.

• Eight Questions about Implementing Standards-Based Education

  Author: Marzano, Robert J. discusses: How state and district standards actually apply to local classroom learning, achievement, and assessment is an issue which is of great importance to a myriad of education officials. The goal of this digest is to present eight questions which pertain to how standards-based education affects classroom instruction and assessment at the local level. Various options and recommendations are provided within this digest to help education officials discern the practical concerns of standards-based education.

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