Standards and State Frameworks
There are two kinds of standards: content standards and performance
standards.
Content Standards describe what students need to know, understand, and be able to do
in a specific content area such as English language arts or mathematics.
Performance standards tell how good is good enough--that is, how well the student has
to perform to achieve or exceed the standard.
Content standards can be drawn from many sources. The most widely used in Rhode Island
are the Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) and Grade Span Expectations (GSEs). These
standards were developed by a partnership of three states' departments of education - New
Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont - that form the New England Common Assessment Program
(NECAP), which has developed tri-state assessments in reading, writing, mathematics, and
science. For more information on these GLEs and GSEs, and on others that are specific to
Rhode Island (e.g., civics education, engineering and technology), please go to
this page.
Content standards have also been developed by the Rhode Island Skills commission, various
school districts in and out of state professional organizations such as the Rhode Island Council
for the Arts. Each school district in the state selects or adapts from among these various
sources those content standards they want their students to know and be able to do. There
also have been standards developed by national organizations such as the National Council of
Teachers of English (NCTE) and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) that
teachers can use to supplement the GLEs and GSEs.
If all students are going to achieve high standards, the district needs to have commonly
agreed upon set of content and performance standards. That way, everyone - administrators,
teachers, students, parents, and the community - knows what he or she is aiming for.
District and school decision-making is based on whether a particular decision will help all kids
to achieve high standards. Kindergarten through grade 12 curriculums are aligned with the
standards as are classroom instruction and assessments. Standards form the basis for
congruence among curriculum, instruction, and assessment.