It will serve as a resource to educators and others designing curriculum and assessment at the local level, and it makes explicit the basis for statewide assessment. Standards identify what all students should know and be able to do. Essential knowledge is what students should know. It includes the most important and enduring ideas, issues, dilemmas, principles, and concepts from the disciplines. Essential skills are what students should be able to do.
Skills are ways of thinking, working, communicating, and investigating.
There are also behaviors and attitudes related to success in and outside of school. Frequently, standards are accompanied by evidence of how the standard can be demonstrated. Learning opportunities are recommended practices to support all students in attaining the standards in this framework. They address access, instruction, assessment, and connections, as well as best practices particular to the fields of knowledge. They are specific, they represent areas that can be influenced by the teacher, and they are supported by current research and best practices.