Science education at the K-12 level is in need of a revamp, as many current curricula are based on standards that are more than a decade old and American students lag their global peers in performance. Based on frameworks from the National Research Council, several groups have partnered to develop a cutting-edge set of benchmarks for student achievement in science, the Next Generation Science Standards, which have drawn support from 26 states. In this workshop session, authors and other leaders in their development will provide a status report on the recently released standards, including the next steps for implementation, and answer your specific queries on the upcoming changes.
Forty-five states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards for mathematics, a set of uniform benchmarks for achievement that aim to produce more college- and career-ready students. The standards are in the early stages of implementation in several states. Kentucky, the first state to implement Common Core and test on it, has seen proficiency scores drop but college- and career-readiness levels rise. North Carolina has also introduced tests keyed toward Common Core, while several other states boast numerous education resources, curricular framework, and other Common Core tools that might prove beneficial to their counterparts across the nation. In this workshop, educators and state officials from Kentucky, North Carolina, and other states will answer questions, share success stories and trouble spots related to Common Core, and propose strategies that other jurisdictions might use to apply the new standards to their curricula.
Helping students meet rigorous new standards and assessments begins by training K-12 educators, many of whom have been in the classroom for decades. Professional development is taking a variety of forms: intensive workshops and summer institutes; books and online instruction; off-the-shelf curricula that come with training in how to teach them; and outreach from university-based STEM education centers. Some states, too, are introducing teacher training aligned to the new Common Core math standards, appointing local and regional teacher leaders and building comprehensive toolkits to help educators. This session will describe effective professional development programs already at work and identify the most successful strategies in states that have been earliest in moving forward with new standards.
