Resource Hub
Explore guides, research papers, policy briefs, and tools to aid decisions on standards and assessments.
Leading a Standards-Based System: Aligning Policy to Standards
In this policy brief, Robert Hull (director of NASBE’s Center for College, Career, and Civic Readiness) presents components that state boards of education need to consider when aligning policy to a standards-based system. Adoption and implementation of new standards is not enough to help students excel in college and careers. To ensure high levels of student performance, Hull writes that state boards of education must integrate all other education system components with educational standards. Hull includes a graphic of his standards-based framework: standards are placed in the central hub of a wheel of all other education components, which include expectations, curriculum, materials, measures of effectiveness, accountability system, and professional learning. In the brief, Hull describes each of these components and how they align to educational standards. Hull also includes links to three states’ strategic plans as examples of alignment between policy and standards.
This brief article is a helpful guide for state education agencies looking to refine their strategic plans centered on high-quality learning standards for all students. The framework Hull provides in the brief is simple and clear, and it can be a useful reminder of the educational components that state education agencies must keep in mind when aligning educational policy with standards. Although Hull does not go into any detail about a process for alignment or decision making, this article is a good beginning read for state education agencies considering a revision of their strategic plans.