Implementing new science standards provides an opportunity to advance systems for science education for all students, but doing this effectively takes careful analysis and planning.
The resources featured below are designed to help state, distict, and school leaders effectively manage the transition to the NGSS and create and maintain an ambitious plan for science education.
Implementation Resources
Key Takeaways from the Early Years of Transforming Science Education for the Next Generation: Based on a series of focus groups of key stakeholders centered around essential lessons they learned about developing and delivering high-quality, equitable science learning experiences for all students, this document shares five key takeaways.
NGSS District Implementation Indicators: Document provides some key common indicators of successful NGSS implementation at the district level, as well as some concrete actions that districts can take to achieve implementation goals.
NGSS District Implementation Workbook: Workbook provides an overview of the issues and challenges associated with NGSS implementation and outlines some key questions, timelines, decisions, and considerations for district leaders.
Lessons Learned from the NGSS Early Implementer Districts: Instructional Materials: This document shares lessons learned from interviews with nine of the ten districts in the California NGSS K-8 Early Implementation Initiative and highlights district experiences with instructional materials.
NGSS Adoption and Implementation Workbook: Guidance designed for state leaders who intend to adopt and implement the NGSS so that the standards bring about the change in classroom instruction and student achievement that they promise.
Guide to Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards: Document developed by the National Research Council that provides research-based recommendations for implementing the NGSS in states, districts, and classrooms. (This document was heavily drawn upon as the research base for the NGSS District Implementation Workbook)
State Science Education Standards Comparison Tool: Tool supports administrators in comparing the differences, both in purpose and structure, between different sets of standards.
NGSS For All Students: This unique book portrays real teaching scenarios written by the teachers on the NGSS Diversity and Equity Team. The seven authentic case studies vividly illustrate research- and standards-based classroom strategies you can use to engage diverse student groups.
Why Instructional Materials Matter: This two-pager and accompanying research document lay out why instructional materials and teacher supports are key for student success.
STEM Funding under ESSA in the FY 2018 Federal Budget: With a new federal spending bill signed into law on March 23, 2018, STEM advocates are celebrating increased funding for programs and initiatives in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Several provisions in ESSA allow—and even encourage—the use of federal funds to support STEM education. This table provides an overview.
The State of State Science Education Policy: Achieve's 2018 Science Policy Survey: This report summarizes findings and from a Science Policy Survey administered during the summer of 2018 to state education agencies to better understand state-level science education policies.
Leveraging ESSA to Promote Science and STEM Education in States: Policy brief provides a landscape analysis of states' current assessment and graduation requirements for science.
Professional Learning Resources
Lessons Learned from the NGSS Early Implementer Districts: Professional Learning: This document shares lessons learned from interviews with nine of the ten districts in the California NGSS K-8 Early Implementation Initiative and highlights district experiences with professional learning.
EQuIP Professional Learning Facilitator's Guide: Tool offers guidance and a series of ten modules designed to help district and school leaders provide NGSS professional learning opportunities based on the EQuIP Rubric for Science, Version 3.0.
Science Teachers' Learning: Enhancing Opportunties, Creating Supportive Contexts: Document developed by the National Research Council provides guidance for schools and districts on how best to support teachers and how to implement successful programs for professional development.
Seeing Students Learn Science: Integrating Assessments and Instruction in the Classroom: Report developed by the National Research Council to help guide educators' approaches to classroom assessment.
Instructional Materials Collaboratives: Brief on Rhode Island & Delaware: The Rhode Island/Delaware Instructional Materials Collaborative Brief provides an overview of interstate collaboration designed to transition their materials toward NGSS alignment.
NGSS Appendices: NGSS Appendices A-M provide background and detail about the standards, along with some helpful implementation models.
Accelerated Model Course Pathways: Document offers guidance to schools and districts seeking to strategically organize NGSS performance expectations into a compressed time frame.
NGSS Evidence Statements: Statements of observable and measurable components that, if met, will satisfy the NGSS performance expectations.
Read the Next Generation Science Standards and the Appendices.
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