Practice Brief 21 -- Topics: Implementation Background

What school building administrators should know about the new vision for K-12 science education

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Why It Matters To You
  • Teachers should work with their peers and their administration to help develop a shared understanding of the new vision for science education.
  • District Staff & PD Providers should help principals provide leadership in support of the new vision and see how to coordinate with other initiatives.
  • School Leaders should learn how to recognize and support science and engineering learning as described in the new vision. They should advocate, encourage, and monitor progress towards realizing the vision.

What Is The Issue?

The new vision for K-12 science education described in the NRC Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is ambitious and exciting. It holds significant promise to support greater educational equity and learning in STEM. But given its new areas of emphasis for teaching and learning, it will be challenging to implement. Implementation should be done systematically and incrementally across several years. School building leaders play unique roles in resourcing and supporting teachers as they work to realize this new vision.

Authors:

BY PHILIP BELL - NOVEMBER 2015


Reflection Questions

Things to Consider

“Equity in science education requires that all students are provided with equitable opportunities to learn science and become engaged in science and engineering practices...”

NRC Framework, 2012, p. 28

Overlaps in NGSS & Common Core Practices
Important synergies exist between the standards.

Attending to Equity

The NGSS and NRC Framework outline science literacy goals for all students and call for equity to be at the forefront of any effort to improve science education. Students from all backgrounds should have a fair opportunity to participate in scientific learning experiences that are authentic, relevant, and engaging.

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