Tuesday, January 31, 2012

State science standards graded

The Fordham Institute has released The State of State Science Standards 2012. Here are a few highlights from the report:

California's science standards were given an A, as were those in the District of Columbia. Massachusetts, Virginia, South Carolina, and Indiana came up with A–'s.

Ten states' science standards were given an F. (AK, ID, MT, NE, ND, OK, OR, SD, WI, WY)

Seventy-five percent of states' science standards were given a grade of C or lower.

The quick listing of state grades is in Appendix B, but each state's science standards are given a detailed review in the full report. State report links can be accessed individually from the report's web page.

1 comment:

  1. Glad you posted this. Nice to feel vindicated as a Colorado high school teacher in dismissing our state standards as useless. In our district, we've instead spent a lot of time trying to align our courses to address a broad base of AP objectives. They're not ideal, but they're a much better starting point than our state has provided.

    I have to admit that the state has sought input from teachers, but they haven't made a commitment to building a coherent framework. And I think elementary science instruction throughout the state has suffered when test-obsessed administrators couldn't figure out what to do with the standards.

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