We received the following press release from the Maryland State Department of Education:
BALTIMORE, MD (April 9, 2013) — The final version of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is being released today, a new set of voluntary, rigorous, and internationally benchmarked standards for K-12 science education.
Maryland is one of 26 states and their broad-based teams that have worked together for nearly two years on the standards, with a 41-member writing team and partners. The goal has been to develop standards identifying science and engineering practices and content that all K-12 students should master in order to be fully prepared for college, careers and citizenship.
Dr. S. James Gates, University System of Maryland Regents Professor, John S. Toll Professor of Physics, and Director of the Center for String and Particle Theory at the University of Maryland—who also serves on the State Board of Education—said the new standards represent a great leap forward.
“With the State of Maryland playing the role of one of the lead states in the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards, we are poised to place the already considerable achievement of the state on a path toward excellence as measured on an international scale,” Dr. Gates said.
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. The development of the NGSS was entirely state-driven, with no federal funds or incentives to create or adopt the standards. The process was primarily funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, a leading philanthropy dedicated to improving science education in the U.S.
The NGSS are grounded in a sound, evidence-based foundation of current scientific research—including research on the ways students learn science effectively—and identify the science all K–12 students should know.