Proficiency Scales for the New Science Standards. Robert J, Marzano

      Source: Achieve, 2013a, p. 13.

Figure 1.3: Grade 1 NGSS standard for the core idea of Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits.

      The standard shown in figure 1.3 contains one performance expectation—“Students who demonstrate understanding can: Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents” (Achieve, 2013a, p. 13). All the elements in the foundation boxes pertain to the single performance expectation.

      Performance expectation codes appeared to the left of each performance expectation in the NGSS. Each code identified the grade level, discipline, core idea, and performance expectation number of the performance expectation associated with it. The grade level identifications were fairly straightforward. A number indicated the corresponding grade level (for example, 1 meant grade 1), and K, MS, and HS aligned to kindergarten, middle school, and high school, respectively.

      The following letter combinations related a performance expectation to its specific discipline.

      ✦ Physical sciences = PS

      ✦ Life sciences = LS

      ✦ Earth and space sciences = ESS

      ✦ Engineering, technology, and applications of science = ETS

      Although the NGSS named the fourth discipline engineering, technology, and applications of science, we simply refer to this discipline as engineering.

      The number immediately following each discipline abbreviation signaled the core idea within a discipline with which a performance expectation was associated. A list of the core ideas within each discipline can be found in table 1.3 (page 9) or 1.4 (page 10). The final number at the end of a performance expectation code identified which performance expectation within a core idea the code referenced.

      Thus, the performance expectation code found in figure 1.3 (1-LS3-1) indicates that the performance expectation is at the first-grade level. The LS3 relates this performance expectation to the core idea of Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits within the discipline of life sciences. The 1 at the end of the performance expectation code identifies this specific performance expectation as the first performance expectation in its core idea of Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits.

      Performance expectation codes appeared in each of the foundation boxes to allow the reader “to see how the information in the foundation boxes is used to construct each performance expectation” (Achieve, 2013b, p. 3). The codes also served as a way to navigate the NGSS. As seen in figure 1.3, the connections section refers the reader to 3.LS3 to see the performance expectation in the standard articulated at a higher grade level.

Summary

      In this chapter, we discussed the process used to create the NGSS and the organization and format of the standards themselves. The multiyear process for creating the NGSS included two parts: (1) conceptualization and (2) writing. The conceptualization process involved international benchmarking and the creation of the NRC framework, which informed the writing of the NGSS. Each NGSS performance expectation is built from elements of the three dimensions in the framework: (1) scientific and engineering practices, (2) crosscutting concepts, and (3) disciplinary core ideas. In the next chapter, we discuss how the proficiency scales found in part II (page 55) developed from the NGSS.