Standards Alignment

Standards alignment lets you connect your curriculum content to educational standards frameworks like Common Core, state standards, or custom learning objectives. This helps meet compliance requirements, track coverage, and make content discoverable.

Before You Begin

You need:

• Author or Admin role in your account
• A curriculum with a standards framework assigned
• Content nodes in your curriculum
• Understanding of which standards your content addresses

If your curriculum has no standards framework assigned, see Creating Curricula to set one during creation.

Why Align to Standards?

Aligning curriculum to standards helps you:

• Meet compliance requirements for state or district adoptions
• Help teachers find content that addresses specific standards
• Track coverage to ensure all required standards are addressed
• Generate reports for administrators and stakeholders
• Make content discoverable through standards-based search

How Standards Work in CurryCMS

Standard Sets

Standards are organized into Standard Sets—collections like "Common Core Math (CCSS)" or "California Standards (CA)." Each curriculum is assigned one standard set when created.

Standard sets contain:
- Standards: Individual learning objectives with codes
- Hierarchy: Domain → Cluster → Standard (varies by framework)
- Metadata: Full text, descriptions, grade levels

Example hierarchy:

CCSS Mathematics
├── Domain: Operations & Algebraic Thinking
│ ├── Cluster: Represent and solve problems
│ │ ├── CCSS.MATH.3.OA.A.1
│ │ ├── CCSS.MATH.3.OA.A.2
│ │ └── CCSS.MATH.3.OA.A.3
│ └── Cluster: Understand properties of multiplication
│ └── ...
└── Domain: Number & Operations
└── ...


Standards Alignment Bundle

Your node types may have a Standards Alignment attribute bundle that adds alignment capabilities. This is configured by your administrator.

If a node type supports standards alignment:
- You'll see a "Standards" section in the content editor
- You can align the node to one or more standards
- Alignments display with category badges

If you don't see the Standards section:
- The node type doesn't support standards alignment
- Contact your administrator to add the Standards Alignment bundle

Aligning Content to Standards

Adding Your First Alignment

1. Open a content node in edit mode
2. Scroll to the Standards section (below attributes)
3. Click the + Align to Standard button
4. A modal appears with the standards picker

In the standards picker:
1. Browse the hierarchy or use search
2. Expand domains and clusters to find specific standards
3. Select the alignment category from the dropdown (see categories below)
4. Click the standard you want to align
5. The modal closes and the standard appears in your Standards section
6. Click Save to save the alignment

After adding:
- The standard appears with a colored category badge
- You can add more standards by repeating the process
- Changes are saved when you save the node

Alignment Categories

Choose the category that best describes how your content relates to the standard:

Best practice: Most content aligns as "Addressing" (directly teaching) or "Practicing" (reinforcement).

Searching for Standards

Instead of browsing, use search to find standards quickly:

1. Click + Align to Standard
2. In the modal, type in the search box

3. Search by:

   • Code: "CCSS.MATH.3.OA.A.1"
   • Keywords: "multiplication", "fractions", "force and motion"
   • Grade level: "Grade 3", "3rd"

4. Results appear below the search box

5. Select category and click the standard to align

Search tips:
- Use standard codes for exact matches
- Use keywords for broader searches
- Combine terms: "grade 3 multiplication"
- Search is case-insensitive

Changing an Alignment Category

If you aligned with the wrong category:

1. Find the standard in the Standards section
2. Click the category dropdown on that alignment
3. Select the correct category
4. The badge color updates immediately
5. Click Save to save the change

Note: Changing the category marks the alignment as "manually curated" if it was auto-generated.

Removing an Alignment

To remove a standard that no longer applies:

1. Find the standard in the Standards section
2. Click the × (remove) button on that alignment
3. The standard disappears
4. Click Save to save the change

Warning: Removing an alignment cannot be undone. If you're unsure, consider changing the category to "Building Toward" instead.

Aligning to Multiple Standards

A single content node can align to multiple standards:

Typical patterns:
- Lessons: 1-3 specific standards (addressing)
- Activities: 1-2 standards (practicing)
- Units: Multiple standards across child nodes (aggregate view)
- Assessments: Multiple standards (addressing or practicing)

Best practice: Align to the most specific standards that apply. Don't align to parent categories (domains, clusters) unless your system requires it.

Browsing the Standards Library

Accessing the Standards Browser

To explore all available standards:

1. Click Standards in the main navigation
2. You'll see the Standards Browser with available standard sets

What you can do:
- Browse the full hierarchy
- Search across all standards
- See which content aligns to each standard
- Copy standard codes for reference

Viewing a Standard's Details

Click any standard to see:

• Full text: Complete standard description
• Code: Official standard code
• Grade level: Applicable grade(s)
• Aligned content: List of your curriculum content aligned to this standard
• Parent hierarchy: Domain and cluster this standard belongs to

Use this to:
- Understand standard requirements
- See if you've already aligned content
- Identify coverage gaps
- Find related standards

Alignment Source Indicators

Alignments have a source that indicates how they were created:

Manual Alignments

Default source when you add alignments yourself.

Characteristics:
- Created by you or another author
- Fully trusted and curated
- Won't be overwritten by system processes

Crosswalk Alignments

Automatically created when you create a variant with a different standards framework.

Example:
- Parent curriculum uses CCSS
- You create a Texas variant using TEKS
- System automatically maps CCSS alignments to equivalent TEKS standards
- New alignments have "Crosswalk" source

What to do:
- Review crosswalked alignments for accuracy
- Adjust categories if needed (changes source to Manual)
- Add missing standards if crosswalk isn't perfect

Note: Crosswalk quality depends on crosswalk data configured by your administrator.

Inherited Unmapped Alignments

Created when a variant inherits content but no crosswalk mapping exists.

Example:
- Parent curriculum aligned to Standard A
- You create a variant with different framework
- No crosswalk exists between Standard A and your framework
- Alignment copied as "Inherited (Unmapped)" with warning icon

⚠️ These alignments need review:

When viewing a variant, you'll see a "X needs review" counter in the header if unmapped alignments exist. This counter helps you track outstanding alignment issues.

How to resolve unmapped alignments:

1. Find alignments with the amber "Needs Review" badge
2. The alignment shows "Parent aligned to: [Standard] in [Framework]" for context
3. Click the "Find Equivalent" button
4. The standards picker opens, scoped to your variant's framework
5. Browse or search for the equivalent standard
6. Select the appropriate category and click to align
7. The old unmapped alignment is replaced with your manual selection
8. The counter in the header decreases automatically

Alternative: Remove without replacement
- If no equivalent exists, click the × button to remove the alignment
- Consider whether the content should still exist in your variant

Why this matters: Unmapped alignments indicate incomplete coverage and block publishing of the variant curriculum. You must resolve all unmapped alignments before you can publish content in that variant.

Publishing Blocked by Unresolved Alignments

If a variant curriculum has any "Needs Review" alignments:

• The Publish button will not appear on content nodes
• Attempting to publish via API returns an error with the message: > "Cannot publish: X alignment(s) need review."
• The error message includes a link to view unresolved alignments

To unblock publishing:
1. View the variant curriculum
2. Note the "X needs review" counter
3. Resolve each unmapped alignment by finding equivalents or removing
4. Once counter reaches 0, publish becomes available

Standards and Variants

When working with curriculum variants, standards alignment has special behavior.

Variant with Same Standards Framework

If variant uses the same framework as parent:

• Inherited nodes: Show parent's alignments (read-only)
• Overridden nodes: Can modify alignments freely
• Added nodes: Align as normal

Example:
- Parent uses CCSS
- California variant also uses CCSS
- Alignments inherited directly, no conversion needed

Variant with Different Standards Framework

If variant uses a different framework (via crosswalk):

• Inherited nodes: Crosswalked alignments appear automatically
• Review needed: Check auto-generated alignments for accuracy
• Manual additions: Add alignments for gaps

Example:
- Parent uses CCSS (Common Core)
- Texas variant uses TEKS
- System crosswalks CCSS.MATH.3.OA.A.1 → TEKS.3.4.E automatically

Your responsibility:
1. Review crosswalked alignments
2. Adjust categories if mapping isn't perfect
3. Add missing standards not covered by crosswalk
4. Remove incorrect crosswalks if needed

Overriding Inherited Alignments

When you override content in a variant:

1. Create the override (see Using Variants)
2. The alignments from parent are copied
3. Edit alignments as needed
4. Alignments become independent from parent

Note: After override, parent alignment changes don't affect your variant. You own the alignments.

Coverage Tracking

Track how well your curriculum addresses required standards.

Viewing Coverage

Coverage tracking helps you identify:
- Aligned standards: Standards with content (green)
- Missing standards: Standards not yet addressed (red)
- Coverage percentage: % of required standards aligned

To view coverage:
1. Open your curriculum
2. Look for Coverage or Standards tab (feature availability varies)
3. Select the standard set to analyze
4. Review the report

Coverage report shows:
- List of all standards in the set
- Which content aligns to each standard
- Standards with no alignments
- Overall coverage percentage

Improving Coverage

Identify gaps:
1. Look for standards with 0 alignments
2. Determine if existing content addresses them
3. Add alignments if content exists
4. Note standards that need new content

Common coverage issues:
- Missing grade level: Curriculum covers Grades 2-4 but set includes K-5
- Scope gaps: Some standards not in scope for your curriculum
- Unaligned content: Content exists but lacks alignments

Resolution:
- Add alignments where appropriate
- Document intentional gaps (not all curricula cover all standards)
- Create new content for true gaps

Best Practices

Align at the Right Level

Do align to:
- ✅ Specific standards with codes (CCSS.MATH.3.OA.A.1)
- ✅ The most granular level available
- ✅ All standards the content addresses

Don't align to:
- ❌ Broad categories without codes (Domain: Number & Operations)
- ❌ Parent standards when child standards apply
- ❌ Standards the content merely mentions

Example:
- A lesson on multiplication should align to specific multiplication standards
- Don't align to "Operations & Algebraic Thinking" (too broad)

Use Categories Thoughtfully

"Addressing" for:
- New instruction on a standard
- Primary focus of the lesson
- Direct teaching with explanation

"Practicing" for:
- Homework and review
- Practice problems
- Skill reinforcement after instruction

"Building On" for:
- Content that requires prior knowledge
- Extensions of previously mastered standards
- Advanced applications

"Building Toward" for:
- Preview activities
- Vocabulary introduction
- Prerequisite skill building

Don't Over-Align

Guideline: 1-3 standards per lesson

Too many alignments indicates:
- Aligning to parent categories (align to specific standards instead)
- Misunderstanding the standard's scope
- Curriculum trying to do too much at once

Exception: Assessments may align to more standards if they're comprehensive.

Review Periodically

Standards frameworks update:
- State standards revisions every 5-10 years
- Common Core interpretations evolve
- Assessment frameworks change

Review schedule:
- When framework updates
- Annually for accuracy
- When content is significantly revised

What to review:
- Are standards codes still current?
- Do categories still fit the content?
- Have new standards been added to the framework?

Involve Curriculum Specialists

If your organization has curriculum specialists or instructional coaches:

• Consult them on alignment decisions
• Review alignments before publishing
• Collaborate on coverage reports

Why: Standards alignment is often required for compliance. Subject matter experts ensure accuracy.

Common Questions

Can I align to standards from multiple sets?

Not directly. Each curriculum has one assigned standards framework. To use multiple frameworks:
- Create variants with different frameworks
- Use crosswalk mappings to maintain equivalent alignments

What if my content addresses a standard not in the framework?

Contact your administrator to:
- Add custom standards to the framework
- Import a different standards set
- Create a custom standard set

Can I bulk-align standards?

Not currently. Alignments must be added one at a time to ensure accuracy. This prevents accidental over-alignment.

What happens to alignments when I delete content?

All alignments are deleted with the content node. This action cannot be undone.

Can I export a list of alignments?

Alignment export depends on your account's configuration. Contact your administrator about reporting capabilities.

Why don't I see the Standards section?

The node type doesn't support standards alignment. Contact your administrator to add the Standards Alignment bundle to that node type.

Can I copy alignments from another node?

Not automatically. You must manually align each node. This ensures alignment accuracy.

What if crosswalk creates wrong alignments?

1. Change the category (marks as manual and prevents future overwrites)
2. Or remove the alignment and add the correct one
3. Report crosswalk issues to your administrator

How do I know if alignment coverage is sufficient?

Coverage requirements vary by state and district. Consult:
- Your curriculum director
- State adoption requirements
- District standards documents

Can I align variant content to parent framework?

Each curriculum must use its assigned framework. Create manual alignments in the variant's framework, not the parent's.

Troubleshooting

"You cannot align to this standard set"

The standard belongs to a different framework than your curriculum's assigned framework. You can only align to standards in your curriculum's framework.

Standards picker is empty

• Verify your curriculum has a standards framework assigned
• Check that standards data has been loaded for your framework
• Contact your administrator to load standards

Search returns no results

• Check spelling of keywords
• Try broader search terms
• Try standard code instead of keywords
• Verify you're searching the correct framework

Alignment won't save

• Ensure you clicked Save after adding the alignment
• Check for validation errors (duplicate alignment)
• Verify you have Author or Admin role
• Try refreshing the page and aligning again

Category dropdown is disabled

The alignment may be system-generated. Try clicking to enable editing, or remove and re-add manually.

Standards section not visible in editor

• The node type doesn't support standards alignment
• Contact your administrator to add the bundle
• Or use a different node type that supports alignment

Crosswalked alignments look wrong

• Review crosswalk accuracy with your administrator
• Change category to mark as manually curated
• Remove incorrect alignments and add correct ones manually

Next Steps

Now that you understand standards alignment:

1. Creating Curricula - Learn how to assign standards frameworks
2. Working with Content - Master content creation and editing
3. Using Variants - Understand crosswalk behavior in variants

Related Documentation:
- Creating Curricula - Assign standards framework during creation
- Working with Content - Edit content and attributes
- Using Variants - Work with crosswalked alignments
- Author Overview - Your role and capabilities