NGSS CDE Update Issue 4 (Week Beginning October 29, 2012

From the California Department of Education NGSS Listserv:

Update from the California Department of Education (CDE)

Issue 4 (Week beginning October 29, 2012)

NGSS CDE News

• Final Public Release of the Draft NGSS
•  Legislative Update
•  Development of the NGSS
• California’s Involvement as a Lead State Partner

The NGSS CDE update is an e-mail to inform California educators and parents of new developments and upcoming events. Please feel free to share information in the update with those who are interested in the NGSS CDE’s work.

• Final Public Release of the Draft NGSS – In May 2012, the draft NGSS was released nationally for public comment.  Achieve, Inc., the manager of the NGSS initiative, received thousands of comments from the public which were shared with the writers of the standards.  The second and final public draft of the NGSS will be released late November 2012.  This is an opportunity for educators, parents, business people, scientists, engineers, and the community to submit comments and shape the standards that will guide how students will learn science for years to come.  The draft standards and feedback survey will be available on the Achieve Web site at http://www.nextgenscience.org/.

• Legislative Update – On September 27, 2012, Governor Brown signed Senate Bill 1200, which extends the deadline for the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to present new science standards, using the Next Generation of Science Standards as their basis, to the State Board of Education (SBE) to July 31, 2013.  The SBE must adopt, reject, or modify the presented standards by November 30, 2013.

• Development of the NGSS – The development of the NGSS, based on the national framework developed by the National Research Council (NRC), is a two-step process.  The first step was the development of the framework. The second step is the development of the NGSS.  In a process managed by Achieve, states will lead the development of Kindergarten through grade 12 (K–12) science standards, rich in content and practice, arranged in a coherent manner across disciplines and grades to provide all students an internationally-benchmarked science education. The NGSS will be developed collaboratively with states and other stakeholders in science, science education, higher education, and industry. As part of the development process, the standards will undergo multiple reviews from many stakeholders including two public drafts, allowing all who have a stake in science education an opportunity to inform the development of the standards. This process will produce a set of high quality, college- and career-ready K–12 Next Generation Science Standards ready for state adoption.

• California’s Involvement as a Lead State Partner - As one of 26 lead states, California is gathering and delivering feedback from state-level committees to the writers of the standards.  Senate Bill 300, as chaptered, requires the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to present recommended science content standards, utilizing the NGSS as their basis, to the SBE.  Senate Bill 1200, as chaptered extends the presentation of new science standards to the State Board of Education to July 31, 2013. The SBE must adopt, reject, or modify those standards by November 30, 2013.

Resources

• Join the NGSS CDE electronic mailing list by sending a blank e-mail to join-ngss@mlist.cde.ca.gov.
• NGSS CDE Web site – The Next Generation Science Standards CDE Website can be found at http://www.cde.ca.gov/pd/ca/sc/ngssintrod.asp.
• NGSS External Web site – The Next Generation Science Standards Web site can be found at http://www.nextgenscience.org/.
• To receive Common Core State Standards CDE Updates via e-mail notification, subscribe to the CDE listserv by sending a blank message to join-commoncore@mlist.cde.ca.gov.
• To receive Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium CDE Updates via e-mail notification, subscribe to the CDE listserv by sending a blank message to subscribe-sbac@mlist.cde.ca.gov.

NGSS Questions/Answers of the Week

Q:  How will the standards take into account current research in cognitive science?

A:  Research on how students learn science effectively has been a long-term interest of the National Research Council, which published How People Learn, How Students Learn, and most recently, Taking Science to School.  Findings in cognitive science permeate the Framework for K–12 Science Education and will be central to developing the Next Generation Science Standards.

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Written by California Science Teachers Association

CSTA represents science educators statewide—in every science discipline at every grade level, Kindergarten through University.

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