TAKING NOTE
NOVEMBER 2013
OVERVIEW
Academic standards are a set of written guidelines for
what students are expected to know and be able to do
at a specific point in their education. They are usually
organized by subject areas and grade levels, but may
also include long-term education goals. Individual states
are responsible for setting the academic standards for
their students. While the standards set specific expectations for students, it is the curriculum that determines
how those standards are taught. In Tennessee, the
State Board of Education approves statewide academic
standards and sets policies for curricula and courses
of study for public schools. Local districts and schools
then choose curricula and instructional materials (such
as text books) that align with the state standards.
STANDARDS VS. CURRICULUM
Standards are a set of written guidelines for what
students are expected to know and be able to do
at a specific point in their education. Standards
provide the foundation for key components of the
education system including curricula, instructional
materials, teacher training, and assessments.
Curriculum is how those standards are taught.
Local districts make decisions regarding
curriculum, and teachers and principals choose
instructional strategies.
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RAISING ACADEMIC STANDARDS
IN TENNESSEE
States began to push for higher academic standards
in 1996, when a bipartisan group of governors and
business leaders from across the country came
together at the National Education Summit and helped
launch the non-profit organization, Achieve. Since
that time, Achieve has encouraged states to adopt
rigorous academic standards to help U.S. students
compete in the global economy. As part of its work to
make college and career readiness a priority in states,
the group launched the American Diploma Project
Network in 2005. Tennessee joined the initiative in
2008 under the leadership of Governor Phil Bredesen,
following a U.S. Chamber of Commerce report on the
rigor of each state’s academic standards. The report
highlighted the gaping difference between Tennessee’s
proficiency rates on state assessments compared to
national exams, earning the state an “F” on the report
card. Tennessee had been reporting that close to
90 percent of students were proficient in math and
reading language arts, while on the national exams,
only about 26 percent of students were meeting
proficiency standards. This served as powerful wakeup call to Tennessee educators and policymakers who
wanted to better prepare students to be competitive in
a global economy.iii
Tennessee Diploma Project
In the past, states have not worked together to establish
academic expectations, which has led to wide variation
in the quality of standards across the country. This means
that students could be meeting expectations for fifth
grade math as measured by Tennessee’s exams, but
be failing the same subject and grade by another state’s
standards. Establishing a set of common, academically
rigorous standards can help ensure that students,
regardless of where they live, have an equal opportunity
for education and multiple pathways to achieve success
after high school.
In January 2008, Tennessee set higher expectations for
students when the State Board of Education voted to
adopt new standards and high school transition policy
through the Tennessee Diploma Project. The project
was led by the Tennessee Alignment Committee, a
panel of state and local government offi