As the National Research Council, the National Science Teachers Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Achieve have recently released the final version of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), the Thomas B. Fordham Institute has completed its review of the new standards and given them a C. While this may certainly be a disappointing score for many of those who put long hours into the new standards through a collaborative, state-led process, those at the Fordham Institute have reminded those concerned that “NGSS earned a higher score than the standards currently in place in twenty-six states.” In other words, while there is certainly room for improvement, the Standards certainly do stand as an upgrade from many current state science standards, and therefore they do represent a step in the right direction.
An interactive version of the NGSS is now available online. This tool allows users to search the standards and organize content to meet their needs. Within the Disciplinary Core Idea (DCI) and Topics arrangements, standards can be organized by grade band/level and DCI. The NGSS can also be viewed as the individual performance expectations that make up the standards. In this arrangement, content can be organized by the three dimensions from the NRC Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and DCIs.
Following is the link to the completed standards: http://www.nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards
The Fordham Institute’s review “examined the quality, content, and rigor of the final draft of the Next Generation Science Standards. [They] sought to determine how clearly, specifically, and rigorously they cover important content in four areas: physical science (including physics and chemistry), life science, earth and space science, and science and engineering “practices.” In addition, [they] considered how well engineering practices were integrated with the content outlined in each of the core scientific disciplines (although [they] did not specifically “score” engineering within NGSS).”
“The final score is a composite, based on how well the NGSS fared in two broad categories: content and rigor; and clarity and specificity. Content and rigor are scored on a 0 to 7 point scale and clarity and specificity on a 0 to 3 point scale. The final score is the sum of these two sub-scores.”
The NGSS grade is clearly superior to grades given to the science standards of sixteen states-and the PISA framework, but clearly inferior to twelve states and the District of Columbia, as well as the NAEP and TIMSS frameworks, as ranked in the State of State Science Standards 2012.
Download the Final Evaluation of the Next Generation Science Standards here:
http://www.edexcellence.net/publications/final-evaluation-of-NGSS.html
