What Are the Common Core and NGSS Standards? A Parent's Guide

If you've seen a code like 3.NF.A.1 on your child's homework, you've met a learning standard. Standards describe what students should know and be able to do by the end of each grade. They are not a curriculum or a textbook — schools still choose their own materials and lessons — but they set the destination.

Common Core (Math and English)

The Common Core State Standards were published in 2010 for Mathematics and English Language Arts. Most U.S. states adopted them, and many have since revised or renamed their own versions while keeping much of the same content. Many international and online schools use them too.

NGSS (Science)

The Next Generation Science Standards were released in 2013. About 20 states plus Washington, D.C., adopted them directly, and many other states wrote science standards based on the same framework. NGSS asks students to do science — ask questions, plan investigations, argue from evidence — not just remember facts.

How to read the codes

• 3.NF.A.1 (Math) — Grade 3, domain Number & Operations — Fractions, cluster A, standard 1.
• RL.5.2 (English) — Reading: Literature, Grade 5, standard 2 (theme). Other English strands are RI (Reading: Informational Text), RF (Reading: Foundational Skills), W (Writing), SL (Speaking & Listening) and L (Language).
• MS-PS1-2 (Science) — Middle School, Physical Science, disciplinary core idea 1 (matter), performance expectation 2. Elementary codes start with the grade (4-PS3-2); high-school codes start with HS (HS-LS1-1). LS is Life Science and ESS is Earth & Space Science.

What's covered, roughly, by grade

Math

• Grades 1–2: place value, adding and subtracting within 100 (then 1,000), time, money, measuring length.
• Grades 3–5: multiplication and division, fractions (a major focus), decimals, area and volume.
• Grades 6–8: ratios and percents, negative numbers, expressions and equations, functions, the Pythagorean theorem, statistics.
• High school: algebra, functions, geometry, statistics and probability — usually taught as Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II.

English

• Grades 1–2: phonics and decoding, sight words, capitals and end punctuation, retelling stories.
• Grades 3–5: grammar and verb tenses, commas and quotation marks, roots and context clues, theme, main idea and point of view.
• Grades 6–12: analysing arguments and evidence, rhetoric, complex sentence structure, research and citing sources.

Science

• Grades 1–2: light and sound, plant and animal needs, materials, landforms.
• Grades 3–5: forces, life cycles, weather, energy, matter, Earth's systems, space.
• Middle school: Earth and space, life science and physical science, often one per year.
• High school: biology, chemistry, physics and Earth and space science.

How to use the standards at home

• Look up the code on a worksheet or report card to see exactly what skill it means.
• Check the grade below. If your child is stuck, the gap is often a skill from the previous year — fractions trouble in Grade 5 frequently traces back to Grade 3 or 4.
• Preview, don't race ahead. A little exposure to next year's topics builds confidence; drilling them rarely helps more than solidifying this year's.

Every worksheet on Practice Sheet is now organised by unit and lesson and labelled with its standard. Browse by grade — for example Grade 4 Math, Grade 5 English or Grade 6 Science — to see the whole year at a glance.