Posts published on April 10, 2013

Next Generation k-12 Science Standards Will Impact Postsecondary Education

On Tuesday, April 9, the final Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), a new set of voluntary, rigorous, and internationally benchmarked standards for K-12 science education, were released.

 Twenty six states and their broad-based teams worked together for two years with a 41-member writing team and partners to develop the standards which identify science and engineering practices and content that all K-12 students should master in order to be fully prepared for college, careers and citizenship. The NGSS were built upon a vision for science education established by the Framework for K-12 Science Education, published by the National Academies’ National Research Council in 2011.

These standards are much more interdisciplinary with a focus on how insights from many disciplines fit together into a coherent understanding. But college entrance requirements remain organized around discrete disciplines like biology and chemistry as separate subjects.