During the 1996-97 school year, the State Education Department (SED) coordinated the development of the New York State Resource Guides for each of the seven standards areas: English Language Arts; The Arts; Social Studies; Mathematics, Science, and Technology; Languages Other Than English; Health, Physical Education, and Family Consumer Sciences; and Career Development and Occupational Studies. To illustrate these guides with teacher and student work drawn from actual New York classrooms, the Education Department issued a broad call for standards-based teaching units, or what is termed "learning experiences." Nearly 650 teachers responded, representing more than 125 school districts from every corner of the State. Teachers whose work was accepted through the Peer Review were honored as charter members of the New York State Academy for Teaching and Learning. Membership into the Academy is through the Statewide Peer Review process described in an information booklet.