East Texas STEM Center (ETXSC)
TEXAS
College Readiness
Standards
Science
Improving STEM Education
through Research and
Service to Rural Schools
What are the Texas College
Readiness Standards?
• The Texas CRS define what students should
know and be able to accomplish in order to
succeed in entry-level college courses or
workforce opportunities upon graduation
from high school.
– Source: THECB 2008
CRS and P-16 Strategic Action Plan
GOAL:
To ensure that every Texas student is
prepared by their P-12 education to be
college-ready when exiting high school and
has the skills to successfully compete in a
global economy
Adapted from presentation of Lynda Villanueva, Ph.D.
Define standards for
college readiness
that address what
students must know
to succeed in college
Create a collegegoing culture in
every public K-12
Texas school
Align HS exit
assessments with
entry-level
expectations of HE
and workforce
Establish
accountability
measures for college
readiness,
persistence, and
timely graduation
Infuse P-12
curriculum with
appropriate rigor to
prepare students
for higher ed
Adapted from presentation of Lynda Villanueva, Ph.D.
Who drafted the Texas CRS?
• H.B.1 of the 79th Legislature mandated that
THECB and TEA appoint “vertical teams”
in the disciplines of English/Language Arts,
Science, Social Sciences and Mathematics.
• The vertical teams were charged with
drafting standards
– Source: THECB 2008
Why does Texas need CRS?
• The Texas CRS articulate a baseline of knowledge
necessary for students to successfully participate in
college and the modern workplace.
• CRS represent the next step in aligning public and
higher education curriculum to facilitate a seamless
transition between H.S. and College.
• This alignment will reduce the need for remedial
education for recent high graduates and ultimately
increase the number of Texans graduating from
college.
– Source: THECB 2008
Challenges
• State of Developmental Education
• In Texas, more than 50% of entering freshman
at Texas colleges and universities require
developmental education (THECB, 2008)
• Texas workforce needs
• According to the U.S. Department of Education
(2006), over 90% of new jobs that will be
available to students in the 21st century require
some postsecondary education
– Source: THECB 2008
How are the CRS Different from
H.S. Graduation Standards?
• H.S. graduation standards provide a defined,
focused, set of core skills that should be mastered
in relatively limited and defined set of courses by
a time a student graduates from public school
system.
• CRS are designed to better prepare students to
succeed in a broad range of challenging entrylevel college courses or workforce opportunities
that a student can expect to experience upon
graduation from H.S.
– Source: THECB 2008
How are the CRS Organized?
I. Key Content: Keystone ideas of a discipline that
reverberate as themes throughout the curriculum.
A. Organizing components: Knowledge and subject areas
that organize a discipline around what students should
retain, be able to transfer, and apply to new knowledge
and skills.
1. Performance Expectations: Knowledge and skills that represent
important ideas of the current understanding of each organizing concept
as well as the multiple contexts in which each organizing concept can be
manifest.
a.
Performance Indicators: Examples of how to assess and measure performance
expectations. This list of indicators is not meant to be either EXHAUSTIVE or
PRESCRIPTIVE.
– Source: THECB 2008
How much of the CRS must be Mastered to
be College Ready?
• The CRS do not represent a learning checklist or a
detailed list of prerequisite knowledge to be
“college ready”.
• The more standards a student can master, the more
likely they will be “college-ready”.
• Better for a student to learn a standard in depth
rather than learning all in a superficial fashion.
– Source: THECB 2008
CRS Development and Implementation Process
Phase I
Phase II
Phase III
Develop
College
Readiness
Standards
Validate
CRS against
existing
entry-level
college
courses
Develop
materials to
help align
curriculum of
HS and
college
Adapted from presentation of Lynda Villanueva, Ph.D.
Science Standards
• Introductory Narrative
– Science as a Way of
Knowing
– Understanding and Using
These Standards
“The standards are focused on ensuring
that students are ready to explore and
appreciate the richness and
complexity of the natural world, to
grapple with new ideas and divergent
interpretations, and to master the
powerful techniques of collecting,
organizing, and analyzing
information that scientists use in their
investigations.”
-CRS
I. Nature of Science: Scientific Ways of Learning
and Thinking
A. Cognitive skills in science
1. Utilize skepticism, logic, and professional ethics
in science.
2. Use creativity and insight to recognize and
describe patterns in natural phenomena.
3. Formulate appropriate questions to test
understanding of natural phenomena.
4. Rely on reproducible observations of empirical
evidence when constructing, analyzing, and
evaluating explanations of natural events and
processes.
B. Scientific inquiry
1. Design and conduct scientific investigations in
which hypotheses are formulated and tested.
C. Collaborative and safe working practices
1. Collaborate on joint projects.
2. Understand and apply safe procedures in the
laboratory and field, including chemical,
electrical, and fire safety and safe handling of live
or preserved organisms.
3. Demonstrate skill in the safe use of a wide variety
of apparatuses, equipment, techniques, and
procedures.
D. Current scientific technology
1. Demonstrate literacy in computer use.
2. Use computer models, applications, and simulations.
3. Demonstrate appropriate use of a wide variety of
apparatuses, equipment, techniques, and procedures
for collecting quantitative and qualitative data.
E. Effective communication of scientific information
1. Use several modes of expression to describe or
characterize natural patterns and phenomena. These
modes of expression include narrative, numerical,
graphical, pictorial, symbolic, and kinesthetic.
2. Use essential vocabulary of the discipline being
studied.
II. Foundation Skills: Scientific Applications of
Mathematics
A. Basic mathematics conventions
1. Understand the real number system and its properties.
2. Use exponents and scientific notation.
3. Understand ratios, proportions, percentages, and
decimal fractions, and translate from any form to any
other.
4. Use proportional reasoning to solve problems.
5. Simplify algebraic expressions.
6. Estimate results to evaluate whether a calculated result
is reasonable.
7. Use calculators, spreadsheets, computers, etc., in data
analysis.
B. Mathematics as a symbolic language
1. Carry out formal operations using standard algebraic
symbols and formulae.
2. Represent natural events, processes, and relationships with
algebraic expressions and algorithms.
C. Understand relationships among geometry, algebra,
and trigonometry
1. Understand simple vectors, vector notations, and vector
diagrams, and carry out simple calculations involving
vectors.
2. Understand that a curve drawn on a defined set of axes is
fully equivalent to a set of algebraic equations.
3. Understand basic trigonometric principles, including
definitions of terms such as sine, cosine, tangent,
cotangent, and their relationship to triangles.
4. Understand basic geometric principles.
D. Scientific problem solving
1. Use dimensional analysis in problem solving.
E. Scientific application of probability and
statistics
1. Understand descriptive statistics.
F. Scientific measurement
1. Select and use appropriate Standard International
(SI) units and prefixes to express measurements
for real world problems.
2. Use appropriate significant digits.
3. Understand and use logarithmic notation (base
10).
III. Foundation Skills: Scientific Applications of
Communication
A. Scientific writing
1. Use correct applications of writing practices in scientific
communication.
B. Scientific reading
1. Read technical and scientific articles to gain understanding of
interpretations, apparatuses, techniques or procedures, and data.
2. Set up apparatuses, carry out procedures, and collect specified
data from a given set of appropriate instructions.
3. Recognize scientific and technical vocabulary in the field of
study and use this vocabulary to enhance clarity of
communication.
4. List, use, and give examples of specific strategies before, during,
and after reading to improve comprehension.
C. Presentation of scientific/technical information
1. Prepare and present scientific/technical
information in appropriate formats for various
audiences.
D. Research skills/information literacy
1. Use search engines, databases, and other digital
electronic tools effectively to locate information.
2. Evaluate quality, accuracy, completeness,
reliability, and currency of information from any
source.
IV. Science, Technology, and Society
A. Interactions between innovations and science
1. Recognize how scientific discoveries are connected to
technological innovations.
B. Social ethics
1. Understand how scientific research and technology have an
impact on ethical and legal practices.
2. Understand how commonly held ethical beliefs impact
scientific research.
C. History of science
1. Understand the historical development of major theories in
science.
2. Recognize the role of people in important contributions to
scientific knowledge.
V. Cross-Disciplinary Themes
A. Matter/states of matter
1. Know modern theories of atomic structure.
2. Understand the typical states of matter and phase changes among these.
B. Energy (thermodynamics, kinetic, potential, energy transfers)
1. Understand the Laws of Thermodynamics.
2. Know the processes of energy transfer.
C. Change over time/equilibrium
1. Recognize patterns of change.
D. Classification
1. Understand that scientists categorize things according to similarities and
differences.
E. Measurements and models
1. Use models to make predictions.
2. Use scale to relate models and structures.
3. Demonstrate familiarity with length scales from sub-atomic particles through
macroscopic objects.
Indicators
Questions?
The Texas College Readiness Standards are available at the
THECB Website:
http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/collegereadiness/TCRS.cfm