Responses to NGSS Implementation Roundtable Questions

For further questions:

Questions about standards, curriculum, teaching and learning, or classroom-based assessments can be directed to michael.heinz@doe.state.nj.us.
Questions about statewide assessments can be directed to john.boczany@doe.state.nj.us.

Question 1: Do all standards for all students need to be completed in three years? We have some students who currently use four years for this. Please advise.: Administrative Code is silent on the duration of a science education program at the high school level. The New Jersey Student Learning Assessment for Science, at the end of 11^th grade, is being field tested in the spring of 2018. Data from that assessment will inform future decisions regarding flexibility of when a student must take the exam.

Question 2: Subject matter on the test is unfair as students may not have taken that discipline (chemistry or physics). So what is really being tested?

Administrative Code requires that all students receive instruction in all of the New Jersey Student Learning Standards for Science (NJSLS-S). The academic standards define the minimum requirements for a thorough and efficient education. It is the responsibility of each school district to ensure that all students are proficient with all of the standards.

ESSA requires the State Department of Education to assess student proficiency with those standards once in grades 3-5; once in grades 6-8; and once in grades 10-12. The NJSLS-Science assessments all measure student proficiency with the age-appropriate science standards.

There are a number of resources available to districts that need to remediate gaps in their high school science curriculum. These include:

Question 3: With only three academic years (9, 10, 11) and four units (biology, chemistry, physics, Earth and space/environmental), is it completely appropriate to assess students on all four units? Are there resources to support implementing the four units across three years?

The NJSLS-S are organized by Earth and Space Sciences, Life Science and Physical Science. The standards and Framework for K-12 Science Education (NRC, 2012) do not mandate a specific course sequence or course title. The units identified in the question have been created by the local school district. The resources listed in the response to question 2 have been quite useful to many school districts.

Question 4: Most students don’t take physics and those who do take physics at the 12th grade. How can we hold the schools accountable for this test?

Please see the responses to questions 1, 2 and 3.

Question 5: Is the intent to eventually use the assessment as a science SGP?

The Department does not have plans to require schools to use science assessment scores to determine student growth Percentiles. New Jersey measures growth for an individual student by comparing the change in his or her achievement on the state standardized assessment from one year to the student’s “academic peers” The science assessments are not annual, making comparisons of a students’ growth impossible.

Question 6: How soon can we expect released spring 2018 assessment items in the 2018-2019 school year?

The vendor is scheduled to publish example items in mid-February. There are examples of high-quality assessment items at the following websites.

Question 7: Must AP students in 11^th grade science classes still take the 11^th grade test?

All students, regardless of the current course enrollment, are required to take the end of 11^th grade science assessment.

Question 8: What are any of your districts/schools/teachers doing to make the 3D objectives more effective/accessible to students with disabilities?

There are a number of evidence-based approaches to making science learning accessible to all students. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework based on research in the learning sciences, including cognitive neuroscience, that guides the development of flexible learning environments that can accommodate individual learning differences. NGSS Appendix D – “All Standards, All Students”: Making the Next Generation Science Standards Accessible to All Students.

Question 9: How much detail (content wise) will the assessment cover for each subject?

The NJSLS-S call for the development of “three-dimensional science proficiency,” that is, students’ integrated understanding of disciplinary core ideas, science and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts. To assess three-dimensional science proficiency requires multicomponent tasks (National Research Council, 2014).

The assessments will measure students proficiency with the using science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts and conceptual understandings from domains of Earth and space; life science and physical science. The assessments are very close to 1/3 Earth and space; 1/3 life; and 1/3 physical sciences.

Question 10: Will it focus on broader concepts or specific specialized information, or will it be more focused on CCC’s and SEPs?

This question is very similar to question 9. Please see the response to question 9.

Question 11: Teachers are debating if they should focus on content or if the content will be provided in the questions so students knowing general information will still be able to answer questions if they are good at CCC and SEP?

This question is very similar to question 9. Please see the response to question 9.

Question 12: What standards are covered on the 11th grade test?

This question is very similar to question 9. Please see the response to question 9.

Question 13: When will sample items be released and what will their format be? Multiple choice or more like the performance items from NJBCT?

The vendor is scheduled to publish example items in mid-February. There are examples of high-quality assessment items at the following websites.

Question 14: When will the sample items be released?

This question is similar to questions 6 and 13. Please refer to those responses.

Question 15: Question Format for state high school exam: multiple choice or open-ended?

This question is similar to questions 6, 11 and 13. Please refer to the response to question 13.

Question 16: Will content being assessed directly reflect the content stated in the DCIs or would related topics or content related to the DCIs but not specifically stated also be addressed?

Teachers are encouraged to use the following resources to unpack the depth of understanding that is expected at the ends of grade 5, 8 and 11. The following compilation documents incorporate narrative from A Framework for K-12 Science Education (NRC, 2012); NJSLS-S; Driving Questions from the course Storyline Documents, and links for the Evidence Statements for each Performance Expectation.

2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards in K-12 Science

Teachers should also review the Clarification Statements and Assessment Boundaries provided following most Performance Expectations.

The assessments will measure students proficiency with the using science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts and conceptual understandings from domains of Earth and space; life science, and physical science. The assessments are very close to 1/3 Earth and space; 1/3 life; and 1/3 physical sciences.

Question 17: What if any changes are planned for APA science this year?

The portfolio Alternate Proficiency Assessment (APA) for science will no longer be given. We have contracted with Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) for the administration of the Science DLM Assessment for our specialized population.

Question 18: The high school state test is returning to a comprehensive test circa 2004-2005. What is the status of the science teacher certification process? Will there be a return to the comprehensive science certificate?

There are no current plans to revise the science certification requirements.

Question 19: NJCTL science series? Thoughts?

The State Department of Education neither promotes nor endorses any curriculum materials. It is the responsibility of each school district to perform its due diligence in evaluating the coherence of instructional materials with the Framework for K-12 Science Education and the NJSLS-S. Past experience with purchasing mathematics and English language arts curriculum materials highlight the need to take an evidence-based approach to impartial evaluation of curriculum materials. In order to provide support to districts, the writers of the NGSS and partners developed the PEEC – Alignment: NGSS Publishers Criteria.

The PEEC rubric is a criterion based tool and process that can be used to evaluate the curriculum materials. The following link takes the reader to the PEEC – Alignment: NGSS Publishers Criteria.

Question 20: Is the K-5 test written yet? Is the 11^th grade written yet?

All science assessments (elementary school assessment, middle school assessment, and high school assessment) are currently in development. The items are being reviewed by Science Advisory Committees prior to their inclusion on the field test.

Question 21: When will the decision be made on who will serve on the state committees?

The Science Advisory Committees (SAC) have been selected and we are currently in the process of sending notifications to all those who applied. For those that were not selected to participate on the SAC, their nomination will be held on file for possible selection to participate on one of numerous other committee workgroups that we will be forming in the coming year.

Question 22: Will there be length (time) considerations for speakers of other languages? (i.e. Arabic, Haitian, Creole, Portuguese, … etc.)?

More information on this will be released as it is available through a broadcast announcement and/or memo to the District Test Coordinator.

Question 23: Will the evidence statements be helpful to teachers?

Yes, the evidence can be helpful to teachers. The teachers must be aware, though, the evidence statements were written based on the specific combination of DCI, SEP and CCC listed. The assessment does not have the constraint of retaining that specific combination of DCI, SEP and CCC.

See, also, the response to question 15 for additional documents that teachers can utilize.

Question 24: Will the new assessment be phenomena based?

Yes, as much as it can for a standardized assessment with very narrow time constraints.

Question 25: Where do districts get the template for student upload?

The Student Registration (SR)/Personal Needs Profile (PNP) template can be found in PearsonAccess^next by selecting “NJSLA-S Spring 2018” from the administration drop down menu at the top of the page and then navigating to Support > Documentation. NJSLA-S related resources will be pre-sorted to the top of the list.

Question 26: Will content be emphasized before experimentation? Example; building concepts such as arches and joints, gusset plates, taught before being asked to design a structure?

Effective learning opportunities go much deeper than the question suggests. In order to become proficient with the new science standards, students must use all three dimensions of the new standards – science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concepts – in an integrated fashion in order to make sense of phenomena or design solutions to problems.

Units need to be designed to engage all students in making sense of phenomena and/or designing solutions to problems through student performances that integrate the three dimensions of the NJSLS-S. The following are the shifts that should be evident in a unit.

Explaining Phenomena or Designing Solutions: The lesson focuses on supporting students to make sense of a phenomenon or design solutions to a problem.
Three Dimensions: The lesson helps students develop and use multiple grade-appropriate elements of the science and engineering practices (SEPs), disciplinary core ideas (DCIs) and crosscutting concepts (CCCs), which are deliberately selected to aid student sense-making of phenomena or designing of solutions.
Integrating the Three Dimensions for Instruction and Assessment: The lesson requires student performances that integrate elements of the SEPs, CCCs and DCIs to make sense of phenomena or design solutions to problems, and the lesson elicits student artifacts that show direct, observable evidence of three-dimensional learning.
Relevance and Authenticity: The lesson motivates student sense-making or problem-solving by taking advantage of student questions and prior experiences in the context of the students’ home, neighborhood and community, as appropriate.
Student Ideas: The lesson provides opportunities for students to express, clarify, justify, interpret and represent their ideas (i.e., making thinking visible) and to respond to peer and teacher feedback.
Building on Students’ Prior Knowledge: The lesson identifies and builds on students’ prior learning in all three dimensions in a way that is explicit to both the teacher and the students.

Question 27: How is math integrated into science graphing and data analysis for CCSS does not match science content? Ex. Averages, mode, median, and outliers….are not part of CCSS math. CCSS math lacks graphing at many levels. Especially grades 3 and 4.

The lead states, who developed the NGSS/NJSLS-S, intentionally equated the English language arts standards and the mathematics standards. This means that students in a fifth-grade science course should be using fifth-grade English language arts and fifth-grade mathematics when making sense of phenomena, designing solutions to problems, and making their thinking visible. The following resources provide thorough descriptions to the interrelationships and direct links to the ELA and math standards.

NGSS Appendix L: Connections to Mathematics

NGSS Appendix M: Connections to CCSS-Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects

New Jersey Student Learning Standards for Mathematics

New Jersey Student Learning Standards for ELA

Question 28: A frustration I have is that we are discussing the NGSS but what we really have is the NJSLS-Science. This is because the state Dept. of Ed adopted the NGSS wholesale. It is not a perfect document. The backwards design has left lots of holes in the K-5 curriculum. Why was this done? Will this be fixed?

After a year of soliciting and considering public feedback, the State Department of Education adopted the Next Generation Science Standards in July 2014. In order to have a common naming system for New Jersey’s academic standards, they were all renamed the New Jersey Student Learning Standards in 2016. The NGSS and NJSLS-S are the same documents, only renamed.

While no document is perfect, the development of the NGSS was rigorous. The National Research Council (NRC), National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Achieve completed a two-step process to develop the Next Generation Science Standards.

Step One: Getting the Science Right The NRC, the staff arm of the National Academy of Sciences, began by developing the Framework for K–12 Science Education. The Framework was a critical first step because it is grounded in the most current research on science and science learning and identified the science all K–12 students should know upon completion of high school.

To undertake this effort, the NRC convened a committee of 18 individuals who are nationally and internationally known in their respective fields. The committee was composed of practicing scientists, including two Nobel laureates, cognitive scientists, science education researchers, and science education standards and policy experts. In addition, the NRC used four design teams to develop the framework. These design teams, in physical science, life science, Earth/space science and engineering, developed the framework for their respective disciplinary area. A public draft was released in July of 2010. The NRC reviewed comments and considered all feedback prior to releasing the final Framework on July 19, 2011. Read more about the framework.

Step Two: States Developing Next Generation Science Standards In a process managed by Achieve, states led the development of K–12 science standards that are rich in content and practice and arranged in a coherent manner across disciplines and grades to provide all students an internationally-benchmarked science education. The NGSS are based on the framework and will prepare students for college and careers. The NGSS were developed collaboratively with states and other stakeholders in science, science education, higher education and industry. Additional review and guidance were provided by advisory committees composed of nationally-recognized leaders in science and science education as well as business and industry.

As part of the development process, the standards underwent multiple reviews from many stakeholders including two public drafts, allowing all who have a stake in science education an opportunity to inform the development of the standards. This process produced a set of high quality, college- and career-ready K–12 Next Generation Science Standards ready for state adoption. The standards were published on this website after their completion in April 2013.

NRC Fidelity Review As a part of the NGSS development process, the NRC convened a fidelity review of the final draft of the NGSS, comparing the standards to the vision outlined in A Framework for K-12 Science Education. The reviewers concluded that the NGSS are consistent with the content and structure of the Framework.

More information about the review process.

Click on each of the following hyperlinks to learn more about the lead state partners, writing team and critical stakeholders.

Throughout the development process, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) went through several rounds of review with multiple stakeholder groups. Each group received draft standards at least twice throughout the development process.

Administrative Code requires the State Department of Education to review the appropriate literature, solicit public input and revise academic standards – as appropriate – every five years. It is during the review and revision process that errors can be corrected.

Question 29: John, when Maryland did roll out with MI and Pearson last year? Pearson did district PD, will that happen in NJ? Did you pick folks for the assessment team?

Over the next few months, the NJDOE will hold regional training sessions for district test coordinators that will cover test administration requirements, and security and technology procedures. The locations and dates for the sessions include:

Northern Region
Birchwood Manor
Jefferson Road, Whippany, NJ 07981
February 28, 2018 to March 1, 2018
Central Region
Forsgate Country Club
375 Forsgate Drive, Monroe Township, NJ 08831
March 5 to 7, 2018
Southern Region
Sheraton Atlantic City Conference Center Hotel
2 Convention Blvd., Atlantic City, NJ 08401
March 8, 2018