Bruce Tulloch and Arnie Serotsky
At its October 31, 2009 meeting in Rochester, New York, the STANYS Board of Directors approved a proposal to collaborate with other constituents of the New York State Science Education Consortium in initiating a review for the purpose of revision of the New York State Science Standards as manifested by the six K-12 science core curricula. Other constituents of the Consortium include the Science Council of New York City (SCONYC), the New York State Science Education Leadership Association (NYSSELA), the New York State Professional Development Networks in Earth Science, Biology-Chemistry, and Physics, the Long Island Science Education Leadership Association (LISELA), the Catholic Science Council (CSC), and the Capital Area Science Supervisors Association (CASSA). The Consortium has been in existence since 2000 and has reviewed New York State’s policies and reforms in K-12 science curriculum, assessment, and professional development in annual two-day summits which have typically led to recommendations provided to the New York State Education Department and other stakeholders in K-12 science education.
The rationale for undertaking the science standards review that was presented to the Board of Directors included the following points. First, in undertaking a careful review of the current core curricula, STANYS and the other science educator organizations within the Consortium noted above demonstrate both a concern with the limitations and dated character of the documents and a commitment to help the State fulfill its legislative mandate to review and revise the K-12 science standards. Second, the core curricula serve as the best entry point for review and revision by the science educator professional community. They are familiar to science teachers and are at a level of specificity that ensures productive analysis and revision. Third, the organization, format, and content of the core curricula significantly drive the development and nature of State science assessments, the development of local school science policies, procedures, curricula, and programs, and the design of science teacher professional development activities. Changes to the core curricula will impact these derivative products, services, and activities and address some of their current limitations. Fourth, while the Consortium has analyzed the State’s core curricula in science for several years and made recommendations for their revision, it is important that larger numbers of school science educators have the opportunity to review the documents and offer suggestions for revision. Finally, according to a recent report from the National Center for Science Education, there are only three states which have not created or revised their K-12 science standards since 2000: California, Nebraska, and New York. While many of the other 47 states have engaged in rich and broad discussion of what students should know and do in science, inculcating more recent research and thinking into their standards documents in the current century, New York State continues to rely upon curricular resources published near the end of the last century. Its core curricula deserve a review based upon the advancements in science and pedagogical content knowledge.
The STANYS Board of Directors approved a phased, deliberative, and transparent approach to the review and possible revision of the State’s K-12 science core curricula. In Phase 1, which begins in November 2009 and concludes in May 2010, a state-wide needs assessment will be conducted to address a variety of questions pertaining to the core curricula, including:
1. Do science teachers in NYS feel the need for the NYS K-12 science core curricula to be reviewed and revised?
2. What are science teachers’ views on the breadth and depth of the science core curricula?
3. What changes to the organization, format, and content of the science core curricula do science teachers believe will improve the usefulness of the documents for local curriculum development and for classroom instruction using best practices in science teaching/learning?
4. What changes to the content of the core curricula do science teachers believe will make the performance expectations on students more developmentally appropriate?
5. What suggestions do science teachers have for making the K-12 science core curricula more coherent and articulated?
6. What other school science standards frameworks and documents exist in other states and nations that might inform New York State’s curriculum materials?
To gather such information, a Science Standards Survey Instrument will be developed by a team of science educators representing the various organizations of the New York State Science Education Consortium. Members of this working group will be selected based on their skills and experiences, and will be appointed by the STANYS President in consultation with leaders of the other organizations in the Consortium. The survey will then be disseminated state-wide to science teachers in the field through the New York State Building a Presence / Science Matters (BaP) electronic network, the STANYS content-related DAL/SARs networks, and the networks and publications of SCONYC, NYSSELA, LISELA, CSC, Professional Development Networks, and CASSA should these organizations also approve the initiative endorsed by the STANYS Board of Directors . To the extent possible, Survey Monkey, will be used for ease of data collection and analysis. A separate Team of science educators, also appointed based on specific criteria and with similar consultation, will engage in structured research into and analysis of school science standards published by other states and nations, national science and science education organizations, the federal government, and other pertinent educational institutions. Attention will be given to the current STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Education national emphasis and ways that STEM integration may be incorporated into the Science content standard.
In April 2010, the Consortium will devote the Tenth Science Education Summit to (1) analyzing the collated Science Standards Survey data; (2) reviewing the report of the Team investigating school science standards in other states, nations, and organizations; (3) reviewing additional input regarding the current New York State standards and science core curricula; and (4) developing a proposal for Phase 2 of the Science Standards Review and Revision Process. This proposal will identify the specific activities that should be undertaken to revise the State’s K-12 science core curricula, including a Task Analysis and Timeline for revising the science core curricula that will be presented in May 2010 to the STANYS Executive Committee and Board of Directors.
At the recent STANYS Conference General Membership Meeting, President Serotsky announced this initiative to the applause of the attendees, emphasizing that it is being undertaken in a collaborative fashion, “not as adversaries of the State Education Department but in support of their eventual efforts.”
