NGSS Evidence Statements

In an effort to describe more specifically what you would see in proficient student performance of the NGSS PEs, scientists and educators together developed Evidence Statements for every PE in every grade level.  The evidence statements are intended to provide clear, measurable components that, if met, fully satisfy each PE described within NGSS. 

Evidence statements provide granularity HOW students can demonstrate knowledge and application of the PE through evidence of learning.

NGSS clearly notes that evidence statements should not guide day-to-day instruction where it becomes a formulaic checklist of what students must learn that day.  Evidence statements represent a minimum proficiency of the performance expectations.  

• The NGSS identify assessable performance expectations (PEs), or what students should know and be able to do at the end of instruction.

  • Each PE represents the integration of three “dimensions” of science education: scientific and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas (DCIs), and crosscutting concepts (CCCs).

• In an effort to describe more specifically what you would see in proficient student performance of the NGSS PEs, scientists and educators together developed Evidence Statements for every PE in every grade level. The evidence statements are intended to provide clear, measurable components that, if met, fully satisfy each PE described within the NGSS.

  • The evidence statements provide detail on how students will use the practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas together in their demonstration of proficiency on the PEs by the end of instruction.

  • The evidence statements, describe what teachers or assessors would observe (not infer) from successful student performance of each performance expectation (PE). The evidence statements can serve as supporting materials for the design of curriculum and assessments

  • The science and engineering practices are used as the organizing structure for the evidence statements.

• The evidence statements can be viewed as a magnification of the NGSS performance expectations. Imagine sliding a plant cross-section under a microscope; this will allow you to see greater detail and to develop a deeper understanding of how the component parts work together to make up the full plant. However, seeing this magnified view does not change the fundamental properties of the plant, nor does it give the plant new functions.

  • Similarly, these evidence statements provide more detail about the PEs and their associated foundation boxes, but the evidence statements do not go beyond the scope of the PEs themselves. Therefore, the statements are more detailed guidelines that can be helpful for guiding assessment, describing what students should be able to demonstrate at the end of instruction. They are not curricula, and would not suffice as such; indeed, to achieve the proficiency described in the statements, students will need rich experiences with each of the three dimensions in multiple real-world contexts.