21.   California recently adopted new standards with a stronger focus on computation, and many districts will be putting them into place this fall.

22.   Colleges and high schools are often accused of tolerating grade inflation, because teachers have adopted lower standards and hesitate to confront lower-performing students.

23.   Commercial interests like the Direct Marketing Association have argued that industries themselves can adopt new standards without the need for more regulation.

24.   Congress should adopt minimum standards and allow states to exceed them.

25.   Connie Borden executive director of Hospice by the Bay in San Francisco, was glad the new rules adopt Medicare standards for coverage.

26.   Congress adopted that standard in a securities litigation bill adopted last December.

27.   Every state has adopted standards for reading and math.

28.   FCC Chairman Reed Hundt has also questioned whether any standard should be adopted, saying that perhaps the marketplace, not the agency, should make the decision.

29.   For their part, Microsoft, Yahoo and others hope to adopt standards created by an independent body that would allow their messaging products to work with one another.