What is the difference between standards and a curriculum?

Standards are the goals: what a child should know and be able to do by the end of a grade. A curriculum is the plan and materials for getting there: the books, lessons, order and activities. The Common Core is a set of standards. A school chooses a curriculum, such as a particular math program, to meet them.

Is Common Core a way of teaching math?

No. The standards say what children should be able to do, such as know their multiplication facts by the end of 3rd grade. The methods on a homework sheet, like drawing arrays or breaking numbers apart, come from the curriculum your district chose. Ask the teacher which program it is if a method puzzles you.

Does my state use Common Core?

Probably, under its own name or with changes, but check. Texas never adopted it, Virginia kept its own Standards of Learning, and Indiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Florida replaced it. The official site's list of adopting states is undated, so your state education department's website is the reliable answer.

Do homeschoolers have to follow Common Core?

In most states, no; homeschool laws usually set subjects, days or testing, not standards. Many homeschoolers still use a state's standards as a checklist. Our state-by-state homeschool laws show what each state asks.

What are NGSS and C3?

They are the science and social studies counterparts. The Next Generation Science Standards describe science as practices, core ideas and crosscutting concepts working together. The C3 Framework for social studies is an inquiry arc built around questions and sources rather than a list of facts. States choose whether to use either.

Common Core and state standards

Also called CCSS, Common Core State Standards, state standards, TEKS, Florida B.E.S.T., Virginia SOL, NGSS, C3 Framework.

Ages Kindergarten to 12th grade, about ages 5 to 18Grades K–12Planning A plan you adaptScreens Screens fit wellShelf Standards and national curriculaUpdated November 2026

The Common Core State Standards are a grade-by-grade list of what children should be able to do in English language arts and math, from kindergarten to 12th grade. They are standards, not a curriculum: they say where a child should get to by the end of a year, and leave the books, lessons and order to the state, the district and the teacher. Most US states adopted them; some, such as Texas, Florida, Virginia and Indiana, use standards of their own. This page is for any parent trying to read a report card or a school's math homework.

1 Where it came from

The Common Core was a state-led effort. Governors and state education chiefs started it, working through the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. Writers drafted college- and career-readiness standards first, then worked them back into grade-by-grade standards for kindergarten to 12th grade, drawing on existing state standards, teacher input and two rounds of public comment. Adoption was voluntary: each state decided for itself.

2 The big ideas

A standard is a goal, not a lesson. "Know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers" by the end of 3rd grade is a standard. Which book, game or worksheet gets a child there is the curriculum's job.
The same goal posts everywhere in a state. A child who moves from one district to another should find the same expectations for their grade.
Two subjects only. The Common Core covers English language arts and literacy, and math. Science, social studies and the arts come from other standards.
Build year on year. Each grade's standards are meant to rest on the last, so that by the end of high school a student is ready for college or a job.
Each state chooses its test. The standards set no test of their own; every state picks or writes its own exam.

3 What a lesson looks like

Because standards say what, not how, a lesson in a Common Core school can look like almost anything. Here is a typical one. A 3rd-grade class is working on the standard about knowing multiplication facts from memory. The teacher has written an "I can" sentence on the board in child-friendly words: I can multiply by 6 without counting. The class starts with five minutes of mixed facts from earlier in the week. Then the teacher shows six bags with four apples in each, and children write it two ways: as 6 groups of 4, and as 6 × 4. They talk about a shortcut: 6 × 4 is 5 × 4 and one more 4. Pairs practice with cards, the teacher pulls a small group who need more time with arrays, and the lesson ends with a three-question exit slip. Down the hall, a 5th-grade class reads two articles on the same topic and writes which one makes the better case. The district bought the math book and chose the articles; the standards only say what children should be able to do by June.

4 Reading and math

In reading, the standards include a strand of foundational skills for kindergarten to 5th grade, covering print concepts and the alphabetic principle, and the writing standards expect a 4th grader to type at least a page in one sitting. In math, they set fluency goals grade by grade: adding and subtracting within 5 in kindergarten, within 10 in 1st grade, within 20 in 2nd grade with all one-digit sums from memory, and multiplying and dividing within 100 in 3rd grade with all one-digit products from memory. In high school they describe both a traditional course order (Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II) and an integrated one (Math I, II and III); the district chooses.

5 The adult's job

In school, the teacher's job is to turn each standard into lessons, usually with a curriculum the district has chosen. A parent's job is smaller and more useful than it sounds: know roughly what this year's goal posts are, so you can see whether homework is practice toward them, and ask the teacher what the class is working on now. A homeschooling parent can use a state's standards as a checklist for the year without following any school's lessons.

6 How progress is checked

The standards themselves set no test. Each state gives its own yearly tests, built to match whichever standards it uses: Texas gives the STAAR tests against the TEKS, and Virginia gives SOL tests against its Standards of Learning. Day to day, teachers check progress against the standards with their curriculum's quizzes, exit slips and classwork, so ask your school how its report card relates to them.

7 Strengths and criticisms

Strengths

Shared goal posts. Families who move within a state, and often between states, find similar expectations.
Free to read. Every standard is published online, so a parent can look up exactly what 4th-grade fractions are meant to cover.
Clear year-end targets. Math fluency goals by grade give parents and teachers something concrete to check.
Curricula can be compared. Because so many schools share the standards, reviewers can check how closely a textbook matches them.

Criticisms and watch-outs

Standards are not a curriculum. Two Common Core schools can teach very differently; "Common Core math" homework is the district's chosen book, not the standards themselves.
Critics say the process was closed. In 2009 critics said the drafting happened behind closed doors; the organizers said their work groups were closed to protect the process.
Some say it is too rigid and test-heavy. Florida's governor gave that as a reason when the state replaced Common Core in 2020.
No reliable current count. The official site lists 45 states plus DC as adopters, undated; Education Week counted 43 plus DC in 2015 and noted some states had swapped in similar standards. Check your own state rather than trusting a national number.

8 What the research says

Standards are goals, so there is little research on standards alone; outcomes depend mostly on the curriculum and teaching a school uses to meet them. The research behind this guide did not find a study measuring the effect of the Common Core itself, and we have not summarized one. What the sources do document is the history: which states adopted, which left, and why. Indiana was the first to drop the Common Core, in spring 2014, though critics said its replacement looked very like it. Oklahoma repealed it the same year, and South Carolina passed a law to write its own. Florida renamed it the "Florida Standards" in 2014 with the content unchanged, then adopted its own B.E.S.T. standards (Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking) for English and math on 12 February 2020. Texas never adopted it: its own Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) cover every subject, and a 2013 state law bars schools from using the Common Core. Virginia keeps its Standards of Learning (SOL), revised in 1995, with SOL tests. Indiana now revises its own standards at least once every six years. Beyond English and math, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) describe science in three parts: practices, core ideas and crosscutting concepts; about 20 states plus DC use them as written, and NGSS's own count is 44 states plus DC with NGSS "or similar" standards. The C3 Framework, published by the National Council for the Social Studies in 2013, is not a content list but an "inquiry arc": ask a question, use the tools of history, geography, civics and economics, weigh sources, then share what you found.

9 How to try it

Find your state's standards. Search your state's education department for "[state] math standards grade 3" (or whichever grade). Read one page; it is shorter than you expect.
Turn three standards into plain words. Pick three for this term and write them as "I can" sentences your child would understand, like I can tell time to the nearest minute. Peabody's I can statements are already written for K–8 math and reading.
Ask the teacher one question. "Which standards are you working on this month?" tells you more than the homework sheet does.
Check the math fluency goal for the year. If your child is in 2nd grade, see whether sums within 20 come quickly; a few minutes of fact practice a day is enough to help.
Homeschooling? Use the standards as a checklist, not a schedule. Check your state's homeschool law first: most do not require you to follow them.

10 Using Peabody with it

I can statements by gradeKid-friendly goals for K–8 math, reading and writing, close to the standards' wording but with no codes, to post or tick off.
Math worksheets by gradePractice by grade and topic for the goal posts most states share; Peabody does not label pages with standards codes.
Fact fluency testsShort timed fact checks for the grade-by-grade fluency goals in addition and multiplication.
Math on PeabodyFree math practice for kids, by grade, that works alongside whatever book the school uses.
Reading passagesGraded passages with questions for close reading and finding evidence, a big part of the reading standards.

Peabody is free and has no ads. Pages on peabody.kids are for children; pages here are for the adults teaching them.

11 Programs that follow it

Programs and materials often named with this approach: Common Core State Standards (English language arts and math), Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), Florida B.E.S.T. standards, Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL), Indiana Academic Standards, Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), C3 Framework for social studies.

Questions people ask

What is the difference between standards and a curriculum?: Standards are the goals: what a child should know and be able to do by the end of a grade. A curriculum is the plan and materials for getting there: the books, lessons, order and activities. The Common Core is a set of standards. A school chooses a curriculum, such as a particular math program, to meet them.
Is Common Core a way of teaching math?: No. The standards say what children should be able to do, such as know their multiplication facts by the end of 3rd grade. The methods on a homework sheet, like drawing arrays or breaking numbers apart, come from the curriculum your district chose. Ask the teacher which program it is if a method puzzles you.
Does my state use Common Core?: Probably, under its own name or with changes, but check. Texas never adopted it, Virginia kept its own Standards of Learning, and Indiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Florida replaced it. The official site's list of adopting states is undated, so your state education department's website is the reliable answer.
Do homeschoolers have to follow Common Core?: In most states, no; homeschool laws usually set subjects, days or testing, not standards. Many homeschoolers still use a state's standards as a checklist. Our state-by-state homeschool laws show what each state asks.
What are NGSS and C3?: They are the science and social studies counterparts. The Next Generation Science Standards describe science as practices, core ideas and crosscutting concepts working together. The C3 Framework for social studies is an inquiry arc built around questions and sources rather than a list of facts. States choose whether to use either.

Sources

Development Process, Common Core State Standards Initiative.
Standards in Your State, Common Core State Standards Initiative.
A Common-Core Math Problem: How Many States Have Adopted the Standards?, Education Week (2015).
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, Texas Education Agency.
Indiana Academic Standards, Indiana Department of Education.

High school math pathways: The order of high school math courses: traditional or integrated, when to start algebra, and where calculus, statistics and data science fit.
Math fact fluency: Knowing addition and multiplication facts by heart, built from strategies first and then short practice, as one strand of math, not all of it.
Phenomena-based science: Science that starts with something puzzling to explain, so children ask questions, investigate and argue from evidence before they get the answer.
Inquiry-based social studies: Social studies built around a big question: students work through documents, maps and data, then make and defend an argument.
National curricula abroad: How six other countries set what children learn: England's key stages, Australia's F–10, Canada's provinces, Singapore, Finland and Japan, side by side.
Every approach in the curriculum guide

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