I guess the point I was trying to make was that standards are helpful as a starting point, but not necessarily as the final goal, or the point at which we separate the sheep from the goats.

I think we ought to teach to the standards, and (sure!) even test them, but the current high stakes testing climate, in which your entire soul as a teacher is cast into the firey pits over some ambiguous multiple choice and open response questions, or some hazily defined writing matrix, is problematic.

Keep the standards, but de-emphasize testing. Have more inspirational professional development that excites teachers, who can then excite and inspire their students. Write curricula around questions connected to the standards. Offer websites and enriching resources within curriculum documents; the more accessible inspirational resources are for the standards, the more likely teachers are to use them.

And of course don’t give up.