ABSTRACT
Academic content standards are an important part of our education system, serving as the foundation for what teachers should teach and students should learn in our public schools. In 2010, the state of academic content standards across the nation took a huge step forward with the development and release of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English-language arts and mathematics. This chapter stresses the importance that the voyage needs to be one where there is continual assessment and differentiation in order to find students’ academic strengths and weaknesses in efforts to meet individual needs. CCSS provides an opportunity for growth and collaboration with regular education and within the field of gifted. There are many curricular and programmatic models supported by research that are appropriate for use with gifted students. The CCSS become a launching pad for employing a variety of curricular and instructional strategies to provide rigor and relevance.
