State & National News

NGSS NOW Newsletter

October 2022:

NGSS NOW Newsletter

November 2022:

Twitter Chat

@NGSSchat

#ngsschat

NGSS Twitter Chat:

Are you on Twitter? Have you ever participated on a Twitter Chat? Twice a month there is a #NGSSchat hosted by State and National level NGSS Educators at 9 p.m. EST and 6 p.m. PST. This is a wonderful Professional Learning Network (#PLN). Look for the chats coming up!

NGSS California State Standards Now Published:

This publication contains the State Board of Education edits to the national Next Generation Science Standards. It also provides connections to California’s Standards for Mathematics, English Language Arts, and the Environmental Principles and Concepts.

To Order: https://cdep.klas.com/

California Science Framework:

The final version of the California Science Framework is online. To see the final Framework please go to: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/sc/cf/cascienceframework2016.asp

State Board Approved Materials:

https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/sc/im/adoptedsciprograms2018.asp

On November 8th, the State Board of Education (SBE) approved certain publishers that have been reviewed and verified to be NGSS aligned. Please click on the link above to see the list. For a more detailed report on the CDE's findings, please look at their report: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/sc/im/documents/sbesciadoptionsrpt2018.docx

State Board of Education Approved California Science Test (CAST) Blueprint

In 2017 CDE announced that the State Board of Education (SBE) approved the California Science Test (CAST) blueprint, general achievement level descriptors (ALDs), and score report structure. The CAST blueprint was approved with minor revisions, and the final version link is below:

The SBE-approved general ALDs, which provide a generic description of student performance level expectations that will apply across grades, and the score report structure can be found along with the blueprint here: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/ca/documents/castblueprint.pdf

California State CAST- (CA. Science Test) & the CAA for Science Test:

In 2019 all LEAs will administer the first operational version of the CAST or the CAA-Science field test to all students enrolled in grades 5, 8, and students in grade 12 who have did not participate in the 2018 CAST Field Test or CAA Science Year Two Pilot. The CAST testing window opens January 9, 2018. Districts may elect to administer the high school assessment to students enrolled in grades 10 and 11 .

Also: The third-generation CAST training tests are available—one each for grades five and eight and one for high school. These training tests introduce students, teachers, and parents/guardians to the new item types that will be on the CAST field test. They offer an opportunity to get a sense of how the test questions are asked, and students can try out the universal tools, designated supports, and accommodations. Each training test consists of discrete items and a performance task. Find the CAST training tests on the CAASPP Online Practice and Training Tests Portal https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/ca/documents/castpracticetraining.pdf

When accessing the CAST training tests, please use Firefox, Mozilla, or Chrome Web browsers in order to fully replicate the user experience of the CAST field test within the secure Web browser. CDE does not recommend using Internet Explorer for any of the training or practice tests that are located on the Online Practice and Training Tests Portal. For step-by-step instructions on how to access the CAST training tests, see the “Quick Reference Guide: How to Start a Training Test."

For the BEST information regarding the CAST and CAA go to: https://cascience.org/ngss/assessments

Other Information from CDE:

CAST AVAILABLE RESOURCE GUIDE

CAST FACT SHEET FOR TEACHERS

CAST PARENT GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING

CAST FIELD TEST ACCESSIBILITY RESOURCES

CAA FOR SCIENCE FACT SHEET FOR TEACHERS

CAA FOR SCIENCE PARENT GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING

California's Plan to meet the Federal ESSA can be found HERE. the plan states that the CAST Field test "...will produce and provide student scores and preliminary indicators to LEAs for communication to parents and educators."

There will be more guidance from CDE on how Districts (LEA's) will disseminate students scores (especially considering that this is still only a FIELD test and not an Operational Test.

California DASHBOARD information (currently the dashboard does not have any data on science information...it is expected that when the CAST become operational in 2019-2020 the data will be made available on the dashboard):

CA School Dashboard

NEW California Science Test Release Resources Posted

The California Department of Education (CDE) has posted two California Science Test (CAST) release resources on the CDE CAST web page:

CAST Reporting Achievement Level Descriptors, providing descriptions of the four levels possible for a student’s overall performance on the CAST and the three levels possible for a student’s performance, by science domain

CAST Scale Score Ranges, providing scale score ranges, by grade and achievement level

CTC discussions about Authorizations (Credentialing) at the HS Level for Science.

CTC is in the process of creating information to support HS credentialing issues as districts shift to NGSS Implementation. This information is not yet posted on the CTC website. The following is information concerning how CTC views credentialing issues about the 3 Course Model Pathway. Please see attachment entitled “Information on HS Credentialing for what appears to be the most current information at this time. Also: The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing announced that the Office of Administrative Law approved changes to the Education Code to increase the validity period of teacher examination scores (e.g., CSET, CBEST) from the current five years to ten years effective 1 April 2017. (Exception: Specialized Science examinations passed by educators will remain valid for their initial certification use for five years according to the term of validity in force at the time the examinations were taken and will no longer be valid for this purpose after August 1, 2020.) Visit the website below for more details.

URL: http://bit.ly/CTC-5to10

Source: Commission on Teacher Credentialing

The California Alliance for Next Generation Science Standards Launches CA4NGSS Communications Toolkits Source: Californians Dedicated to Education

URL: https://cdefoundation.org/cde_programs/ca-4-ngss/

The California Alliance for Next Generation Science Standards (CA4NGSS) facilitates collaboration among education, business, government, and community leaders to support effective and timely implementation of NGSS throughout California. Alliance members include organizations representing pK-12, college and university educators and administrators, science museums and centers, afterschool programs, professional learning providers, parents, students, businesses, public policymakers, and philanthropy. …You will find news and resources to support the implementation of NGSS in California [at https://cdefoundation.org/cde_programs/ca-4-ngss/ This includes the CA4NGSS 4 Communications Toolkits, which were developed to] provide education stakeholders in California with ready-to-use resources to introduce and communicate the value and intention of the California Next Generation Science Standards (CA-NGSS)…and support communication with teachers and principals, parents, and district leaders… Prepared for the CA4NGSS by the CDE (Californians Dedicated to Education) Foundation, the California Science Teachers Association (CSTA), and Children Now, with support from member organizations, the content of these materials represents coalition member input but does not reflect each member organization’s formal endorsement.

Mathematics and Science Teachers are Invited to be Members of the Digital Library State Network of Educators

The Smarter Balanced Digital Library is an online collection of more than 2,700 formative assessment resources that support K–12 teachers in their use of formative assessment processes to adjust teaching and improve student learning. Visit https://sbdigitallibrary.org/ for more information. PK-12 teachers can now create their own Digital Library account online (https://sbdigitallibrary.org/ ) if they haven’t already done so.

The State Network of Educators (SNE) is a team of educators from Smarter Balanced member states like California who are trained to contribute and review instructional and professional learning resources for inclusion in the Smarter Balanced Digital Library. Members of the SNE are K-12 and higher education professionals with expertise in the Common Core State Standards and formative assessment tools and practices. Several members are featured on the California Department of Education’s “Meet an SNE Member” webpage: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sa/meetansne.asp The members’ educational backgrounds and why they became SNE members are included; also highlighted are a few of their favorite Digital Library resources. The majority of resources in the Digital Library are contributed by SNE members. Members of the SNE create, submit, and review resources for the Digital Library. Every resource submitted by an SNE member goes through extensive review before being posted to the Digital Library. Submissions must pass through an initial screening process for foundational requirements before being moved on for further review. When the initial screening criteria are met, each resource is then reviewed by three different SNE members using quality criteria developed by Smarter Balanced for the vetting process. In addition to their resource development and review activities, members of the SNE provide important insight that helps guide enhancements to the Digital Library.

Inquiries about how to become an SNE member can be directed to sne@cde.ca.gov. An SNE informational flyer (PDF) is available at http://bit.ly/SNE-Flyer

Contact: California Department of Education

URL (CAASPP): https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/ca/index.asp

Professional Learning Facilitator's Guide for NGSS from Achieve:

A new resource is available to help guide professional learning on NGSS Instructional Materials and determine how to evaluate their alignment and quality. The professional learning outlined in the new Professional Learning Facilitator's Guide (https://www.nextgenscience.org/resources/equip-professional-learning-facilitator%E2%80%99s-guide-0 ) will help educators:

Use the EQuIP Rubric (Version 3.0) to review science lessons and units,
Provide effective feedback and suggestions for improvement to developers of instructional materials,
Identify model or exemplar lessons and units, and
Inform the development of new instructional materials.

As addressed by Joe Krajcik, professor of science education and director of the CREATE for STEM Institute at Michigan State University, in this NSTA blog post: "Many developers and publishers of science materials claim that their materials align with the NGSS and feature the NGSS performance expectations. And while some publishers will make legitimate attempts at modifying their materials to do an appropriate alignment, [educators] will need to have the appropriate tool to judge which materials better represent the intent of the NGSS and which materials just really don't match up."

The newly released facilitator's guide consists of an immersion and introduction module followed by 10 modules that may be used separately or with two or more modules grouped together. All modules include one or more specific learning outcomes and are designed sequentially to build participants' proficiency in using the EQuIP Rubric (Version 3.0). After completing the introduction and first nine modules, participants will apply their learning and complete a culminating task in Module 10.

Please note that most modules will take 15 minutes to an hour to complete; however, Modules 6 and 10 will take longer. Timing is important, so Craig Gabler, regional science coordinator and co-director of LASER Alliance, explains more about thoughtful timing of the training in this video.

The Professional Learning Facilitator's Guide is available to download here. All EQuIP for Science-related materials can be accessed online here.

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