What people mean when they use the phrase "content standard" varies all over the lot. In some states, content standards are little more than category labels describing collections of curricular aims in particular content areas. If a state's content standards are too numerous, then teachers do not know where to aim their instructional efforts. This author asserts that the only way out of this dilemma is to overhaul a state's content standards so they represent curricular aims that teachers can truly teach in the instructional time available and that they can assess in a way that pays off instructionally.