Setting performance standards is an area that different constituencies see quite differently. The choices of elements for a particular standard depend to a large extent on the purposes the standard is intended to serve. Standards can be used in certification, as predictors, as descriptors, and as motivators. While performance standards indicate how much of a domain has been mastered, content standards define the extent of the domain to be tested. The bridge from one to the other is of central importance in validating performance standards. Performance standards must reflect content standards. The psychometric problem of determining just where a cut-point should be placed on a scale is important, but deciding what to test and how to test it are more important. In prediction, placing the standard on the right scale is important, while for description and motivation, the placement of the points is less important than having enough points to be descriptions and goals for the full range evaluated. Finding a way to map content standards onto performance standards is an extremely important challenge in standard setting. (Contains 3 figures, 3 tables, and 23 references.) (SLD)