About the Standards

The ThemeSpark tool uses a variety of national standards. When listing standards, we try to keep as close to the exact language of standards as possible. In creating rubrics, language is changed to reflect different levels of quality in the skills behind the standards and for clarity.

Standards Used

The following are the standards that we are currently using.

Common Core State Standards

http://www.corestandards.org
Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.

The Common Core Standards are used in our tool for the following standards:

K-12 English Language Arts
6-12 Reading and Writing (Literacy) for History/Social Studies
6-12 Reading and Writing (Literacy) for Science/Technical Subjects
K-12 Mathematics
Standards for Mathematical Practice

College, Career, and Civic Life C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards

http://www.socialstudies.org/c3
National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS),The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3)Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013).

The C3 Standards are used in our tool for the following standards:

K-12 Geography
K-12 History
K-12 Civics
K-12 Economics
K-12 Developing Questions and Inquiries in Social Studies (listed as "Inquiries" in Social Studies)

Next Generation Science Standards

http://www.nextgenscience.org
NGSS Lead States,Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States (Washington, DC: Achieve, Inc. on behalf of the twenty-six states and partners that collaborated on the NGSS, 2013).

The NGSS Standards are used in our tool for the following standards:

K-12 Physical Sciences
K-12 Life Sciences
K-12 Earth and Space Sciences
K-12 Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science
Science and Engineering Practices

National Coalition for Core Art Standards (NCCAS)

For art standards, only the Anchor Standards are currently being used.

21st Century Skills

We currently only offer basic 21st Century Skills covering the “4 C’s,” including Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, and Critical Thinking. These will be expanded upon to allow for students with different levels of 21st century skills.
Find out more about 21st Century Skills at the Partnership for 21st Century Skills.

We will update this as more standards become available with permissions from their authors. We are initially focusing on national level standards at this time.

For questions, emailinfo@themespark.net