This study examined the Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) National Standards with some examples at the state level, analyzed the previous studies relevant to curriculum implementation in the USA, and explored critical success factors in moving toward the new perspective curriculum in exemplary states. The process, in which the FCS discipline struggled to clarify the identity and image as well as to find the mission and vision, produced the FCS National Standards in 1998 and 2008 in the USA. The FCS National Standards were established to fulfill the mission of the FCS based on a critical science perspective. The previous research on a state level implementation indicated that the majority of FCS state administrators agreed that the National Standards positively influenced curriculum development. The critical success factors in integrating National Standards into local programs included the dissemination of thephilosophical works of Marjorie Brown, the foundation of the FCS curriculum with a critical science perspective, the establishment of National Standards corresponding to the philosophical works and a critical science perspective, the openness of state FCS administrators to educational reform, the construction of an infrastructure to support reform, and the commitment by university professors to develop a teacher training program. The critical success factors identified can be employed as an informative guide for the future development and implementation of the Family and Consumer Sciences curriculum in Korea.