Under the provisions of state law, the California State Board of Education (SBE) has adopted state-wide academic content standards in the four core content areas: English/Language Arts, Mathematics, History/Social Science, and Science. Although technically voluntary, in reality California's academic standards are now being used as the basis for the state’s curriculum frameworks . The frameworks outline the course of study for use by local school districts, guiding state and local textbook adoption processes and professional development programs. The standards-based portion of California’s mandatory Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR ) Program and the state’s new High School Exit Exam (HSEE) , which are administered to students statewide, are also based on them. In other words, California's academic content standards are intended to drive what is taught and tested in California public schools. As such, they are pivotal to reforms and changes being made to all other components of the state's education system, including school accountability policies.

Taken from EdSource, a independent, impartial information source on California schools

California State K-12 Content Standards are available online.

To read more about standards, visit EdSource for a series of articles examining the standards and their effect on California schools.