This document presents standards for working with the home, school, and community; for creating and sustaining the learning environment; and for identifying and using appropriate assessment tools and practices. It begins with Home, School and Community Partnerships; the Learning Environment; and Assessment -- the areas essential to a high-quality program and that both support and facilitate teaching and learning in Social/Emotional Development, Creative Arts, Health, Safety and Physical Education, Language Arts/Literacy, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and World Languages. An extensive, but not exhaustive, bibliography is provided. (author abstract)