Science Standards stuff heating up

You’ll have to excuse me for the flurry of links I’m about to unleash here, but there’s a lot going on concerning our state science standards.

First, the Orlando Sentinel School Zone blog notes that whereas Florida is reviewing the national Next Generation Science Standards for possible adoption, there will also be a review of our state’s current standards at about the same time. They were adopted in 2008 and are due for their regular check up, so to speak, here five years later. The Sentinel doesn’t provide any links or sourcing for this information, so I currently don’t know how or when this check up will be conducted.

Education Week’s Curriculum Matters blog reports that the Thomas B. Fordham Institute isn’t blown away by the NGSS, saying they just earn a C grade. Kansas officials recently adopted the NGSS and told Education Week that their own review of the standards showed that the standards are better than Fordham thinks. Paul Cottle at Bridge to Tommorow also fires back at Fordham, taking the think tank to task for suggesting that new science standards be delayed until states have a firm grasp on other Common Core standards.

This suggestion to put science on the back burner in K-12 schools until they have raised all students to the math and ELA levels demanded by the Common Core standards is a framework for mediocrity and a recipe for disaster in the nation’s science and engineering pipeline.

For the record, Florida Citizens for Science endorses the NGSS and will advocate on their behalf here in Florida. You can help by participating in the Next Generation Science Standards: Public Opinion Survey.