Other academic disciplines followed the same model as the NCTM, but they were aided by Federal funding. Professional associations submitted proposals to write standards in history, geography, science, the arts, and civics. Because the United States is a country where education policy is set mostly by states and local schools rather than by the federal government, most states also embarked on their own standards-setting processes. On the state and local levels, standards tend to be written more specifically than they were at the national level. They have also become more specific in content, so that they sometimes seem like lists of objectives.
Standards are currently the staple of educational conversation.
Textbook and test publishers claim that their products are aligned with national and state standards. Norm-referenced tests tell you how well students achieve compared to each other, but standards mean that student progress must be compared to the standard, not to how well or poorly others do. Schools of education are only slowly beginning to realize that their graduates will likely have to learn to teach to standards wherever they work.