School Programs

Academic Content Standards

Over the last decade, national professional education associations have pushed to develop national standards and encouraged states to draw from these as they develop state specific standards.  For science education, the National Research Council, along with the National Academy of Science and the National Science Teachers Association, wrote a set of recommended content standards (1999).  Additionally, political groups are pushing for standards that will address accountability issues.  No Child Left Behind of 2001, the reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, requires states to implement statewide accountability systems, based on challenging state standards, covering all public schools and students.

"Science teaching is a complex activity that lies at the heart of the vision of science education presented in the Standards. The teaching standards provide criteria for making judgements about progress toward the vision; they describe what teachers of science at all grade levels should undertand and be able to do."

National Science Education Standards, National Committee on Science Education Standards and Assessment, National Research Council, 1996

Contact your state's department of education or public instruction to learn more about the science education standards that local teachers work toward. Then correlate your program activities to both the national and state education standards to help teachers invision how your program can help them meet their goals and objectives.

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