A POTENTIAL SEA CHANGE IN K-12 GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION WITH STATE ADOPTION OF THE NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS

An improved pipeline of university-level geoscience students and a more geoscience-literate public are potential benefits in states that adopt 2013’s Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for K-12 education. Currently, Earth science after middle school in most states is an elective, if offered at all. At present, 39 states require three or more years of high school science, but only three of them specify Earth science coursework as a graduation requirement. In contrast, 29 specify a year of biology and 21 of those also specify a year of a physical science. A few states do include geoscience questions on a science test all students must take to graduate.

NGSS offers a robust, challenging set of 19 “performance expectations” for high school under the headings of Earth’s Systems, History of Earth, Weather and Climate, Space Systems, and Human Sustainability. For example, students must “Analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth systems.”

States that adopt NGSS have the potential to greatly improve the geoscience background of all high school graduates, if they require instruction in all its strands and require all students to be successfully tested across its breadth. A few states have taken the important step of specifying earth science content in graduation requirements. Kentucky, for example, both adopted NGSS and posts the following graduation requirement: "Science - 3 credits to incorporate lab-based scientific investigation experiences and include the content strands of biological science, physical science, earth and space science, and unifying concepts.” However, realizing high-quality geoscience education across Kentucky high schools is still far from certain, and will take time. Much will depend on the development of new state-level standardized science assessments that should follow NGSS adoption.

Time that geoscience professionals spend in shaping and promoting NGSS adoption in their states should be amply rewarded in benefits to the profession and the nation.