Six years ago, the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings and Standards (OSEUS) were approved by the State Board of Education Standards based on legislation passed in 2007. Despite implementation efforts such as the WoLakota Project that have helped individual teachers, many others needed additional support to figure out how to incorporate these…

Over the past several decades, educational policymakers around the world have made changes based on three competencies they believe students will need to be successful in an increasingly globalized society: Knowledge, skills, and mindset. While many advocacy efforts in music education have focused on the first two global competency domains…

Release of the report of the Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools in March 2018 led the Australian Government to develop a National School Reform Agreement, including bilateral agreements established with the states and territories. The purpose of this article was to compare emerging state-level curriculum reforms with…

Rapid adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the Race to the Top (RTTT) competition, and backlash around these policies created widespread uncertainty among state educational agencies (SEAs). SEAs may have not had a clear direction about how to support standards implementation in a new context, and therefore, may have looked to their…

The Learning Policy Institute (LPI) conducted research in New Mexico to provide state leaders and stakeholders a research perspective on the challenges facing education and to identify evidence- based ways that state policy can address them. This report complements the main report, "Improving Education the New Mexico Way: An Evidence-Based…

This case study of the development of the "Illinois Learning Standards" of 1997 parallels a study of the development of the Norwegian compulsory school curriculum of 1997, "Laereplanverket 1997." The pair of case studies is designed to explore the administration of state-based curriculum-making and, in particular, the use of…

State and national standards, taken as is, can limit the potential of the curriculum and skilled teachers. The ideas presented here suggest ways in which we might better scrutinize standards for their potential richness and limitations in order to enrich our instruction.

This article explores the relationship between federal and state educational policymaking and classroom reading instruction. The past 50 years of federal literacy education policy is summarized, particularly emphasizing the connections of these policies to reading curriculum and classroom assessment. The paper concludes with a discussion of the…

In an effort to increase student readiness for college and career, many States have adopted new academic standards encouraged by education reform advocates. These standards are commonly referred to as the Common Core Standards. Schools from States that have adopted the Common Core Standards have been compelled to significantly restructure their…

Among the notable aspects of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is the diverse array of interest groups supporting them. These organizations must now apply the strategies they used so effectively in advancing the Common Core to stem mounting opposition to it. This article draws on theories of political and policy learning and interviews with…

This policy brief provides an overview of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), discusses policy considerations for adopting or adapting the new standards, and presents examples from states considering or implementing the NGSS. Changing academic standards is a complex process that requires significant investments of time, money, and human…

The purpose of this comparative case study was to explore the ways educators at the school-level experience a federally directed curriculum policy change and examine the contextual factors that impacted the way it was initially implemented. Application of an organizational learning (OL) lens was incorporated to help illuminate the ways educators…

As schools across the country prepare for new standards under the Common Core, states are moving toward creating more aligned systems of assessment and accountability. This paper recommends an accountability approach that focuses on meaningful learning, enabled by professionally skilled and committed educators, and supported by adequate and…

The curriculum policies for students with special needs across Australia have been reviewed. The Curriculum Framework in the Australian Capital Territory is used to inform their school based curriculum. The Northern Territory Curriculum Framework describes what learners are expected to achieve and what learners have achieved. The New South Wales…

This commentary on Porter, McMaken, Hwang, and Yang's "Common Core Standards: The New U.S. Intended Curriculum," which finds a lack of alignment between the Common Core State Standards and state standards and assessments, suggests possible reasons for the lack of alignment. It also offers possible reasons for Porter et al.'s finding of a…