Governor Schwarzenegger has consistently affirmed his commitment to staying the course with standards-based education and adopted the following education principles:

1. Safeguard the State Board of Education’s adopted academic content standards as the foundation of California’s K-12 educational system.
2. Ensure that curriculum is rigorous, standards-aligned and research-based, utilizing State Board of Education adopted materials or standards-aligned textbooks in grades 9 to 12, to prepare children for college or the workforce.
3. Ensure the availability of State Board of Education adopted instructional materials for kindergarten and grades 1 to 8 and locally adopted standards-aligned instructional materials in grades 9 to 12.
4. Support professional development for teachers on the adopted instructional materials that are used in the classroom.
5. Maintain the state’s assessment and accountability system.
6. Ensure that the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and all teacher training institutes use State Board of Education adopted standards as the basis for determining the subject matter competency of teacher candidates.
7. Strengthen coordination between K-12 and higher education.