INFORMATION & LEGISLATION
CSTA works to ensure that the interests of science educators
are represented at the state level, with legislators and state
education policy-makers. Learn about some successes achieved
on your behalf by clicking here.
Last updated: July 13, 2010
Framework for “National” Science
Standards Available for Review and Comment
A working draft of the National Research Council’s conceptual framework to guide the development of “next generation” standards for science education is online and available for review and comment by the public. This framework is the first step in a process for revising existing standards in K-12 science education which were published over a decade ago.
The existing standards and benchmarks, developed in the early
to mid 1990s by the National Research Council and the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, respectively,
have been used by many states as the basis for developing
their own state standards. California did not use these documents
in developing our state standards in 1997-98. »Read
more.
Science Framework and Materials
Adoption Update
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger abruptly halts the development
and revision of all curriculum
frameworks.
New legislation would reinstate history framework but delay
next science adoption until 2017.
As one of the strategies taken to resolve the state's budget
crisis, the 2009-10 budget bill allows for flexibility in
the way school districts spend their education dollars by,
among other things, eliminating the earmark for the purchase
of instructional materials. Until 2013, districts may spend
those dollars in any number of ways; they may or may not purchase
textbooks and other instructional materials. The state adoption
of instructional materials has, therefore, been put on hold
for five years.
Subsequently, the governor eliminated funding for the Curriculum
Commission and the ongoing revisions of curriculum frameworks,
which form the basis for the adoptions, stating that
it is unnecessary for the Curriculum Development and Supplemental
Materials Commission to continue to advise the Board on
content frameworks and instructional materials adoptions
for the next five years or until an agreed-upon process
is reestablished.
The elimination of all funding for the Curriculum Commission,
which is a mere $700,000 out of a multi-billion dollar budget
deficit, and the governor's cryptic allusion to an "agreed-upon
process" clearly point to political motives for the governor's
move. It is widely believed that some in the governor's office
and some members of the State Board of Education were not
happy with the early draft chapters of the new science framework,
which was being written and approved by practicing science
teachers. The fear among science education leaders in the
state is that the governor's move marks a return to the secrecy
and behind-the-scenes manipulation of the framework that were
the hallmarks of the 2004 framework, where science teachers'
voices were largely ignored.
The next science adoption was to have occurred in 2012; it
is unclear when or if a new adoption schedule will be developed.
However, even if the adoption is reinstated in 2013-2014,
as is currently planned, it could be 2017 before new science
materials can be adopted. Given that the new framework , which
includes the criteria by which new instructional materials
are to be evaluated, will need to be completed first, and
the adoption process, which includes time for publishers to
develop their materials based on those criteria, takes about
30 months, we are looking at districts using materials that
are 11-12 years old before new materials will be available.
UPDATE: Senate and Assembly bills (SB
1278 and AB
2069) have been introduced that would restart the history/social
science framework, to be completed in 2011, and establish
a new adoption timeline that would have the next science adoption
in 2016 or 2017. |
