{"id":2832,"date":"2017-07-19T10:03:27","date_gmt":"2017-07-19T14:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=2832"},"modified":"2017-07-19T10:03:27","modified_gmt":"2017-07-19T14:03:27","slug":"congratulations-florida-gets-an-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2832","title":{"rendered":"Congratulations! Florida gets an A!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A paper in the latest edition of Evolution: Education and Outreach examines how each state’s middle school science standards cover evolution (A state-by-state comparison of middle school science standards on evolution in the United States<\/a>). The standards were judged in five categories:\u00c2\u00a0Is the term \u00e2\u20ac\u0153evolution\u00e2\u20ac\u009d used; Is the concept of evolution clearly defined; Multiple lines of evidence for evolution are presented; Natural selection is Mentioned and Defined; Adaptation is Mentioned and Defined. Florida maxed out the points available in every category, earning an A grade. Many other states that got A’s did so because they had adopted the national\u00c2\u00a0Next Generation Science Standards or used those standards to help craft their own. Florida was noted as one of only six states that didn’t use NGSS and yet still got an A. You can access the Florida standards here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Florida also earned this special mention:<\/p>\n

Florida and Pennsylvania
\nThe two states with the most unique and teacher-accessible standards and resources are Florida and Pennsylvania. Teachers can set search parameters when entering the site- for example, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153seventh grade\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153natural selection.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The search will lead directly to the specific standards that need to be addressed and a very valuable list of ready-to-go lessons, videos, and lab activities. Both sites also have links to online websites such as PBS for additional classroom resources. Teachers can put together targeted lesson plans around the state standards since the creators of the state standard websites have done the legwork for them. We have mentioned that good standards do not necessarily translate into good classroom teaching. Offering teachers valuable lessons based on the state science standards is a productive way to help ensure that the standards make their way into a teacher\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s daily lesson plans. Any way a state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s department of education facilitates the process from translating the standards document into actual classroom practice is helpful.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The author is Bertha Vazquez<\/a> from\u00c2\u00a0The Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science (TIES) and “has been teaching middle school science in Miami-Dade County Public Schools for 24 years. She has BA in Biology from the University of Miami and a Master\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in Science Education from Florida International University.” She also wrote a column for the Palm Beach Post July 13 about Florida’s new instructional materials law:\u00c2\u00a0New curriculum-challenge law hides non-science agenda<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Also of note are the folks who helped Bertha: “Acknowledgements: Special thanks goes to the three other raters (in addition to the author) who helped with the standards review, Kate Myers of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science, Kitchka Petrova of Florida State University, and Dora Pilz of Miami-Dade County. Public Schools.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A paper in the latest edition of Evolution: Education and Outreach examines how each state’s middle school science standards cover evolution (A state-by-state comparison of middle school science standards on evolution in the United States). The standards were judged in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-JG","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":483,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=483","url_meta":{"origin":2832,"position":0},"title":"Do state science standards matter?","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"With the fight over including evolution in the state science standards here in Florida now over the hump, we now need to ask ourselves: what did we win? As several news articles have pointed out, in many school districts across the state evolution was already being taught anyway. So, does\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Analysis\/Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Analysis\/Commentary","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1104,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1104","url_meta":{"origin":2832,"position":1},"title":"You earned an A!","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"August 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"A new study examining the mention of evolution in states' science standards spotlighted us here in Florida for the huge turnaround from a grade of F to a grade of A! Florida\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Over the past decade, Florida has improved its standards more dramatically than perhaps any other state. The 1999\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1104#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2397,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2397","url_meta":{"origin":2832,"position":2},"title":"Florida Citizens for Science News Release","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"News Release Lawmakers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Instructional Materials Proposal: Costly Headache for School Boards Jan 11, 2016 Florida Citizens for Science Florida Citizens for Science opposes companion bills filed in the Florida House and Senate, HB899 and SB1018, both entitled \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Instructional Materials for K-12 Public Education.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d We assert that these bills are in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Instructional Materials bills '16"","block_context":{"text":"Instructional Materials bills '16","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=31"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1026,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1026","url_meta":{"origin":2832,"position":3},"title":"Alternative assignments question","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"May 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the best things about Florida Citizens for Science is the\u00c2\u00a0network of experienced professionals we have available. If you have a question, I have no doubt this network can come up with a helpful answer. For instance, last week I got a question via e-mail (all personal information removed):\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1026#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":514,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=514","url_meta":{"origin":2832,"position":4},"title":"Senate bill analysis and edits","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"It looks like preparations are being made for the Wednesday afternoon Florida Senate Education Pre-K - 12 committee meeting. At this meeting Senator Storms' so-called \"academic freedom\" act will be considered. A check of the bill's page on the Senate website shows a couple of new documents have been created.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08"","block_context":{"text":"\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=23"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1178,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1178","url_meta":{"origin":2832,"position":5},"title":"New study: How do Florida teachers feel about evolution?","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida science teachers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 jobs are in jeopardy if they dare challenge biological evolution in the public school classroom, claimed state senator Ronda Storms when she filed her Academic Freedom bill in 2008. The bill says that \"in many instances educators have experienced or feared discipline, discrimination, or other adverse consequences\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 6 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 6 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1178#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2832"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2832"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2834,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2832\/revisions\/2834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}