Despite recent revisions of the National Music Standards and the Virginia Music Standards of Learning, there have not been efforts to determine how their combination could create a localized music curriculum. Combining the national and state music standards allows the music educator to employ current music education practices and ensure students graduate with a standard set of musical skills and abilities. This study examined how secondary choral directors can combine these standards to create an effective and sequential curriculum for secondary choral directors in York County School Division (YCSD). A qualitative, historical research approach identified the history of standards-based curriculum in the choral context, their development to date, and how they can evolve in the future. Examining the literature on choral curriculum writing, previous versions of the YCSD choral curriculum, and choral curricula of other Virginia school divisions illustrated how a standards-based curriculum is most effective in the secondary choral ensemble. This investigation was needed to determine what musical skills and abilities YCSD students should accomplish before graduation and how secondary choral educators can create a curriculum that assesses these skills while incorporating national and state standards. This project intended to construct a framework on how to write said curriculum. Its results encourage further research by providing secondary music educators with the means to create a standards-based curriculum using national and state standards in their specific context.