This paper addresses state and local level issues linked with Goals 2000 in Colorado and seeks to shed light on the development of geography content standards in one Colorado school district. The paper begins with a succinct review of Colorado's standards-based educational reform and the creation of the state's model content standards. After a…

The Michigan English Language Arts Framework (MELAF) offers an illustrative case of top-down and bottom-up confluences in curriculum policymaking. In several distinct ways, state policy met local initiatives to create dynamic partnerships to spread change. State systematic reformers looked to the grass roots for ideas and percolating initiatives.…

This paper argues that education in the United States will be increasingly intertwined with and impacted by federal expectations, requirements, and standards. The paper describes the impacts and effects of national goals and national assessment on K-12 and higher education. A review of state and federal responses to "A Nation at Risk"…

The National Education Standards and Improvement Council (NESIC) was established in the Goals 2000: Educate America Act. One of NESIC's duties is to identify areas in which specific educational standards ought to be developed. Several complex issues arise in carrying out this duty, such as: the need for standards in such non-content areas as…