British Columbia DOE Puts New Jersey and California to Shame

by eteachers.info in Education, June 14, 2009

The websites dedicated to educational standards in New Jersey, California and British Columbia are each divided into manageable areas separated by subject area and, where applicable, specialty. The language used in each are specific to task but generalized enough to allow for interpretation. Each has PDF’s available for review and printing and also contact information for those who may be able to answer questions about the standards.

Each state/territory has a special feature on their website. New Jersey has a dedicated way to search the standards themselves apart from searching the entire website (www.state.nj.us). California has a catalog that allows you to order hard copies through their website. British Columbia has a French and English version available for each standard. Clearly, each domain had an expressed need and met that need with adaptations to their websites regarding the communication of standards to educators.

There are also large differences that can be seen regarding the standards of vocational training as part of the public school system. The British Columbia site provides seven different sets of vocational standards. There is only one set on the California site and there are none on the New Jersey site. Both B.C. and CA have extensive sub-categories spanning every conceivable area of vocational training available. B.C. goes so far as to provide public forums about the relevance of this subset of standards.

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