In 1993, the Colorado General Assembly enacted legislation aimed at bringing about coordinated improvement in the performance and accountability of the state's K-12 education system. The new system is to be fully in place statewide by 1999. Listening to what Coloradans have to say about such issues is a key ingredient in the standards-setting process. An additional round of public hearings will be held in each of the state's 176 school districts next year as districts develop their own standards, using the model standards as a starting point. To help get the discussion going, here are some frequently asked questions about standards.
Standards define what it takes to know or do something well.
They are oriented not to the lowest common denominator, but rather to mastery, excellence and proficiency. The overall performance levels of Colorado students on traditional reading, writing, science and math tests have remained at or just above the national average for the past 20 years. But in our current K-12 system, academic expectations for students vary from school to school and are generally low for most students. As a result, the majority of Colorado youngsters are not acquiring the skills and knowledge they will need to succeed in today's world. One-third of the students couldn't do the most basic math problems for their age level.