HOME > GENERAL EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES > SUNSHINE STATE STANDARDS

In 1996, the Florida Department of Education worked with teachers, curriculum experts, and business and community leaders to create the Sunshine State Standards. The Standards are designed to ensure that children in Florida's schools benefit from their classroom experience. Overall, the focus of the Sunshine State Standards is on raising student achievement in reading, writing, and mathematics to a world-class level. The ultimate goal of the Standards is the realization of success for every student.

On a practical level, the Standards are intended to be used by local school districts to "develop learning activities for students that deal with substantial, meaningful knowledge as it relates to performance in real life."

The Sunshine State Standards are divided into four grade clusters (PreK-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12), a format that allows school districts the flexibility to design a curriculum that meets their specific local needs.

In order to provide more support for school districts in their efforts to improve achievement levels, the Department of Education refined the Standards in the subject areas of language arts, math, science, and social studies to include Grade Level Expectations. Grade Level Expectations identify the specific skills children should be able to demonstrate at each grade level. These Grade Level Expectations will become the basis for standardized testing at each grade level, 3-10.

The Grade Level Expectations should help parents and/or mentors become familiar with what is expected of children at each grade.

The full text of the Sunshine State Standards can be found on the Florida Department of Education's web site.