Oregon is in the process of raising expectations for its students. The state will now require students to prove their proficiency through a series of classroom assignments and state tests. Students who achieve the grade-10 standards on the required assignments and tests will receive a Certificate of Initial Mastery, and those who achieve the grade-12 standard will receive a Certificate of Advanced Mastery. This document describes the four key parts of Oregon's curriculum and assessment system: (1) the Common Curriculum Goals for kindergarten through grade 12; (2) content standards; (3) benchmarks that establish what students must know and be able to demonstrate on tests and assignments in grades 3, 5, 8, and 10; and (4) performance standards. A question and answer section provides answers to some of the frequently asked questions about curriculum, assessment, and the certificate programs. Content standards describe what will be assessed for the Certificates of Mastery, and performance standards describe the scores students must achieve on state tests and classroom assignments to receive the certificates. This document contains information related to the Certificate of Initial Mastery and its common curriculum goals for English, mathematics, the natural sciences, the social sciences, the arts, second languages, health education, physical education, and essential learning skills. The Certificate of Advanced Mastery is still being developed. Criteria for scoring student work are outlined, and a development timeline shows how the academic content standards and the benchmarks were developed. (SLD)