Regulatory Update
Science Standards Update
Regulatory process update: On Thursday, January 13, 2022, the State Board of Education unanimously voted to approve the final-form amendments to Chapter 4 (Academic Standards and Assessments).
Key points:
The Board approved all the recommended changes based on the work last fall that was presented to the Chapter 4 Committee on December 1: for example, the Environmental Literacy and Sustainability domain standards.
All the proposed standards that weren’t revised last fall move forward now, too: for example, the 6-12 T&E standards.
The standards will take effect on July 1, 2025. This was changed from July 1, 2024, to maintain our commitment to a 3-year implementation window.
The first year of mandated implementation of the revised standards will be school year 2025-26.
The Biology Keystone and science PSSAs will be updated, and the new tests will be implemented in school year 2025-26.
Two documents were approved:
Final form of Annex A
Final form of Appendix B-1
Reading guide for the above documents:
Strike-through textis deleted in the final form.CAPITALIZED AND BOLDED TEXT is added in the final form.
[Bracketed items] are text deleted in the proposed rulemaking.
Underscored items highlighted in bold text are additions in the proposed rulemaking.
What happens now: The Board prepares the regulatory package for the final-form regulation stage. The Board and PDE will:
Complete the “comment and response document,” which addresses every comment received on the proposed regulation.
Revise the “Preamble” to explain the reasoning behind each of the changes made to the proposed regulation.
Prepare any supplemental materials that will be included in the regulatory package for context (e.g., a sample standard with foundation boxes).
Share the regulatory package with the executive-branch offices for policy, budget, and legal review.
After that: The State Board of Education submits the final-form regulatory package to the House and Senate Education Committees and IRRC. See the IRRC manual, page 30 for a high-level overview, and pages 13-22 for a detailed explanation of the process.
In the graphic APPENDIX A, we are currently at step 1D, preparing documents for step 2A.