Introduction to the State Standards Database

By Elena Bodrova, Ph.D. and Deborah J. Leong, Ph.D.

The State Standards Database categorizes the language of state early childhood education standards and presents them in a common format. Data for twenty two states, Washington DC, and the federal Head Start program are presented. The standards database can be viewed by browsing either standards by state or standards by domain.

For additional information and policy recommendations regarding child
outcome standards, please see the Child Outcome Standards
in Pre-K Programs Policy Brief.

Content statements are categorized within a hierarchical structure of domains, standards, and benchmarks:

• Domains are the seven general subject areas which statements may belong to.
  
• Standards are familiar categories within a domain and help organize a collection of closely related benchmarks.
  
• Benchmarks describe either student knowledge or skill; they do not describe student performance, student activities, or goals of the curriculum.
  
• Statements are excerpts from states' standards documents which represent content standards.

For more detailed information, see the full database summary as well as the usage and interpretation section.

The information in this database is accurate based on available information as of September 2003.