NGSS Middle School LA Area Information Meeting
South Pasadena Middle School, 8/7/13
Discussion Summary
Important:
To lend your voice to the issue, please email letters to the State Board of Education at
sbe@cde.ca.gov with NGSS in the subject line and CC the following:
o CSTA: csta@cascience.org
o Phil Lafontaine (our NGSS liaison with CDE): plafonta@cde.ca.gov
Stay connected:
o Join your state-level science professional organization, the California Science
Teachers Association. Info at: http://www.cascience.org
o California Middle School Science Teacher’s Facebook group (in Facebook, search
for “California Middle School Science Teacher’s – request to be added to the
group)
o Los Angeles County Office of Education science listserv: send an email to
k12science-on@lws.lacoe.edu
o NGSS listserv: send an email to join-ngss@mlist.cde.ca.gov
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Positive Feedback
A teacher from an “alternative school” has already been doing this [integrated
middle school] for 11 years and it works great, they have time to dig deep,
students are performing well on assessments.
Love the idea of integration
Holistic approach to science
Lends itself well to project based learning
Integrated standards support each other better
Real-world science is integrated, no one branch of science exists without others
No longer a set of facts
Performance expectations are well defined
A chance to go more in depth
A chance to become experts on new things
The pendulum is swinging back to “generalist”
NGSS isn’t about the individual “silo’s” of Earth, life, physical, but about science
and what student’s by 12th grade should be able to do.
NGSS Middle School LA Area Information Meeting Discussion Notes
Italicized responses reviewed by CSTA, LACOE, K-12 Alliance, and CDE. August 2013.
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Concerns/Suggestions
Lots of worries about credentialing. People who may need to get a science “add
on” to their credential are feeling like they are being dumped on. See
credentialing question for a response.
Teachers have developed a passion and expertise for a particular content and it’s
insulting to think I’ll do my student a good service by having me teach outside
this.
There is discomfort in teaching something that I’m not comfortable with.
I’m upset that you are assigning us to teach something totally different.
Concern for new teachers and how to best prepare them.
I want something like FOSS kits, scale immersion units, and training like that.
Curriculum that supports immersion units.
Once I saw the integrated standards, my attitude plummeted. Open up the
“spiral”, I find the current “story” to be a stretch.
Are we selling teachers short by saying that they don’t have the judgment to
already integrate, I do that already.
Questions
How were teachers chosen to be on the SEP
o The Science Expert Panel is a subset representative of the NGSS State Review
Team. They analyzed the final NGSS, reviewed public feedback, and
recommended the middle school science standards, using the NGSS as their
basis. In the past, the State often outreaches to organizations, like CSTA, for
recommendations.
How can teachers be involved (for example, be on the framework committee)?
o Join groups like CSTA (CSTA is sometimes asked to recommend members for
positions) and join the listservs recommended above.
o Be on the lookout for opportunities like applying to the framework committee
(expected in Jan 2014)
o Participate in professional development offerings
o Attend CSTA conferences
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How will we tap into teachers already doing this?
o We don’t know who you are if we don’t hear from you! Feel free to let CSTA
know you are interested in helping provide support.
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What will happen with family life curriculum? Where will it go?
o Science content and family life curriculum are two different things. NGSS does
not address family life
NGSS Middle School LA Area Information Meeting Discussion Notes
Italicized responses reviewed by CSTA, LACOE, K-12 Alliance, and CDE. August 2013.
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What will happen with credentialing?
o MOST teachers currently teaching middle school will have no issues with
credentialing if they switch to an integrated science model. Below is a chart
which shows what teachers are eligible to teach based on the type of credential
they hold. To check what type of credential you have, you can look on the CTC
website and log in with your personal information (SSN, Name, DOB). For
specific questions regarding your credential, speak to your credential analyst at
your District or contact the CTC.
Multiple Subject Credential teaching
in a self-contained classroom
Multiple Subject Credential teaching
science and another subject
Multiple Subject Credential teaching
only science
Foundational Level General Science
Credential
Biological Sciences Credential
Chemistry Credential
Geosciences Credential
MSCP holders in a self-contained 6th
grade classroom will still be able to
teach in the self-contained classroom
MSCP holders in a self-contained 6th
grade classroom will still be able to
teach in the self-contained classroom
MSCP holders teaching only science
already hold another authorization
which allows them to teach science.
This might include a subject matter
authorization (a general science
authorization that allows k-9 science),
added authorization or an added
foundational level general science
credential (see below). For most
MSCP holders currently teaching only
science will not need anything
additional to teach an integrated
science course.
This is a single subject credential and
allows the holder to teach any science
through 9th grade
general/introductory (integrated)
science
This is a single subject credential and
allows the holder to teach any science
through 9th grade
general/introductory (integrated)
science plus biological sciences K-12
This is a single subject credential and
allows the holder to teach any science
through 9th grade
general/introductory (integrated)
science plus chemistry K-12
This is a single subject credential and
allows the holder to teach any science
through 9th grade
NGSS Middle School LA Area Information Meeting Discussion Notes
Italicized responses reviewed by CSTA, LACOE, K-12 Alliance, and CDE. August 2013.
Physics Credential
Specialized Biological Sciences
Specialized Chemistry Credential
Specialized Geosciences
Specialized Physics Credential
general/introductory (integrated)
science plus geosciences K-12
This is a single subject credential and
allows the holder to teach any science
through 9th grade
general/introductory (integrated)
science plus physics K-12
This is a single subject credential and
allows the holder to teach biology K12 (nothing else) ** holders of this
credential cannot teach
integrated science without
further certification
This is a single subject credential and
allows the holder to teach chemistry
K-12 (nothing else) It is worth noting
that holders of this credential are not
able to teach middle school physical
science as they are only allowed to
teach chemistry. ** holders of this
credential cannot teach
integrated science without
further certification
This is a single subject credential and
allows the holder to teach
geosciences K-12 (nothing else) **
holders of this credential
cannot teach integrated science
without further certification
This is a single subject credential and
allows the holder to teach physics K12 (nothing else) It is worth noting
that holders of this credential are not
able to teach middle school physical
science as they are only allowed to
teach physics. ** holders of this
credential cannot teach
integrated science without
further certification
NGSS Middle School LA Area Information Meeting Discussion Notes
Italicized responses reviewed by CSTA, LACOE, K-12 Alliance, and CDE. August 2013.
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I’m looking at switching my grade-level to 6th grade, how can I when 6th grade
needs a multiple subject credential?
o This would depend on if it is a self-contained classroom or not. See table above
for credentialing information.
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Students have difficulty transferring knowledge between grades – how can we
expect them to remember cells in 8th grade.
o Students likely do not transfer content well because they are not gaining deep
understanding of the content nor are they seeing in context outside of that
single year. NGSS came about as a response to decades of research in how
children learn science (from the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, AAAS, and the National Research Council, NRC). Layering in crosscutting concepts and performance expectations (which lend themselves to an
integrated approach) along with focusing on the big ideas of science should help
students retain this knowledge better. This is designed to help students make
connections and build deeper understanding.
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How do the Common Core and NGSS mesh?
o Simply put, the NGSS align with the skills and knowledge for CCSS-ELA and
CCSS-M for each grade. The rational posted on the CDE website does a nice
job of explaining this.
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What will happen with assessment? Will each grade-level be tested? Will it be
content-specific or cumulative?
o A State legislative bill (484) will possibly be voted on in October – this would
suspend all end of course testing except for those required for Federal
compliance (NCLB)? Because of NCLB compliance, science exams in 5th, 8th
and 10th grade will still take place (and test the existing standards) for Spring
2014. After that, we don’t know. Additionally, with respect to future NGSS
assessment, the National Academies are discussing if there will be a national
test but, in a nut-shell, we don’t know this answer yet!
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Why is there such a big gap between life in 6th (heredity) before more biology in
8th (there is the perception that ecosystems is in the way in 7th). Why didn’t you
keep cells/genetics/evolution together.
o There was no freedom to let 6,7, and 8 remain a grade span, California is
mandated to assign standards at each grade. Thought was put into assigning
these at each grade so they would tell a story across grades. A background in
organism structure and heredity (which is basic in 6th grade) is necessary to gain
full understanding of ecosystem concepts where the concept of a population
comes into play. This then yields greater understanding of genetics and what
happens when populations face change (natural selection in 8th grade). The
SEP looked at building integrity between years.
NGSS Middle School LA Area Information Meeting Discussion Notes
Italicized responses reviewed by CSTA, LACOE, K-12 Alliance, and CDE. August 2013.
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What do you mean by frameworks?
o There are two different kinds of frameworks, relevant to this discussion. The
first is the “A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting
Concepts, and Core Ideas” published by the National Academies Press. This
document is the foundational document for NGSS. The second type of
framework is one that California will develop if and when the NGSS are
adopted by California. This California Framework will provide a context for
understanding the new NGSS in California, provide explanation and suggestions
for teaching NGSS and set the criteria for publishers to develop instructional
materials that are aligned to NGSS
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Can we expect to see workshops and refresher courses to develop content
knowledge?
o Fortunately, we have a great science community prepared to help teachers!
The California Science Teachers Association (CSTA), county offices of education
(like LACOE), the K-12 Alliance, and the California Science Project will lead the
way in both advocating on the State Level to make professional development a
financial priority for the state as well as develop and implement professional
development to improve teacher content knowledge. This will not only include
content knowledge, but help with how to teach science in a way that supports
the science and engineering practices. In addition to this, local science
“informals” (such at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum--who was in
attendance at the meeting), along with other museums, aquariums, and
programs like COSEE-West have promised to also provide this support.
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Why is STEM the emphasis for the new standards, where is the biology?
o STEM is not the emphasis. STEM is only mentioned a couple times in the
national framework. NGSS emphasizes all three core content areas of life
science, earth science, and physical science with now an engineering component
added to prepare students for the changing workforce. With respect to biology,
they are well developed and some changes include recognizing the shift in
biology to microbiology, acknowledge the crucial importance of all producers
(not just plants), and place central ideas of biology, like evolution, prominently.
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When all is said and done, what is the implementation plan
o There will be an implementation plan at the State-level, but how it ultimately
plays out will be a District-level decision. If everything goes according to plan
(adopting the standards, developing frameworks, and curriculum
development/textbooks), we don’t expect full implementation until 2015-2016
at the EARLIEST. This year is the “awareness” year. There are steps that are
being taken to ensure that NGSS is implemented in a strong, focused manner
to avoid repeating how the current standards were implemented.
NGSS Middle School LA Area Information Meeting Discussion Notes
Italicized responses reviewed by CSTA, LACOE, K-12 Alliance, and CDE. August 2013.
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Why aren’t we doing discipline specific like the high schools?
o First of all, California is a K-8 adoption state (not K-12). The state is not
required to mandate grade-specific standards for high school – so no decisions
were made with respect to how schools would organize the high school
standards. Each District will have their own choice.
o The decision to have middle school science be integrated was made to better
reflect the spirit of NGSS and it’s cross-cutting concepts.
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If ½ of the kids at our middle school are coming from K-6 schools, how do we
collaborate with our 6th grade teachers?
o Districts will need to make this a priority and provide opportunities for teacher
collaboration. BUT, the SEP intentionally placed fewer standards into 6th grade
and standards that were conceptually more foundational (not as technical as 7th
and 8th).
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What is the human impact piece? Where did they come from?
o The human impact piece is designed to help students see “real world”
connections with the concepts they are learning
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How quickly did you “throw out” the discipline specific model?
o The SEP ruled this out after much discussion as it didn’t hold to the vision of
NGSS as a combination of practices, core ideas and cross cutting concepts as
well as an integrated model.
NGSS Middle School LA Area Information Meeting Discussion Notes
Italicized responses reviewed by CSTA, LACOE, K-12 Alliance, and CDE. August 2013.