Greetings,

The first public draft of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is available at www.nextgenscience.org from May 11 to June 1. We welcome and appreciate your feedback.

There is no doubt that science—and, therefore, science education—is central to the lives of all Americans. To that end, we must ensure that all students have a solid education in science. The recent NAEP science scores show we have a long way to go to ensure all of our students have the science education they will need for college, careers and life. That's why 26 states are working together to develop the NGSS—internationally-benchmarked and rigorous state science education standards. As part of that development process, there will be two public comment periods where all interested parties are invited to give feedback. The first one begins today.

The NGSS have been written as student performance expectations grouped by topics, and can be viewed in the topical groupings or individually. The draft performance expectations are composed of the three dimensions from the NRC's Framework for K–12 Science Education. These draft performance expectations describe how students will demonstrate their understanding.

To review the draft standards, go to www.nextgenscience.org. When you are ready to provide comments, click on any of the links that say "Go to the NGSS Survey." Be sure to submit your survey by June 1. Feedback collected during the comment period will be organized and shared with the leading states and writing team members. After the feedback is considered, a feedback report will be issued that will explain how feedback was handled and why.

Best regards,
Jennifer Childress, Ph.D., Senior Advisor, Science
Achieve | 1400 16th St. NW, Suite 510 | Washington, DC 20036
Office: 202.419.1578, Fax: 202.828.0911, JChildress@achieve.org