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 a s 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.  There are those developed by national organizations such as the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).  Other sources of content standards are the Rhode Island state Frameworks (English language arts, mathematics, science, and health) and the New Standards for English language arts, mathematics, science, and applied learning.

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.

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.