The 2020–21 school year is here! Welcome back everyone from your summer. I don’t want to pretend that this summer was relaxing for anybody. Many in our region only recently learned how this coming school term would be shaped for them. And I want to extend a well-deserved thank you to administrators and teachers who spent their summers in committees and meetings shaping that year as conditions shifted under their feet. Your efforts were heroic, and your accomplishments will make things so much better for your colleagues and their students this coming year.  

One of the topics that I have heard asked frequently in preparation for 2020-21 has to do with variations on the question, “will OSPI release essential, focus, or priority standards? There are many reasons why people are curious about this, but as WA is a local control state, I don’t think we can expect that level of guidance. I checked in with NWESD Regional Science Coordinator, Brian MacNevin to find out what he and his eight colleagues from across the state are hearing amongst science leadership circles. 

Ed: Brian, you’ve been listening in to conversations in Washington and nationally. Is there a national body that will come out with something like “essential standards” for the NGSS? 

Brian: That’s a popular question, Ed. And I completely understand why this question comes up. But nationally, the advice for NGSS states is that the NGSS already reflects a paring-down of the science standards. Which means that they are all essential standards for all students. When I share that with people, I feel bad because I know that information is not helpful. Educators are concerned about how little time they will have with their students.

Some concerns I’m hearing from educators are:

  1. They won’t have materials to send out to students. 
  2. The safety of the things, they do send out. 
  3. People want to know more about the Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science (WCAS), our state test in the springtime. 

Ed: Wasn’t the WCAS canceled?  

Brian: Last spring we were in a different place, Ed. The COVID-19 pandemic closed schools in March — about one month before the testing window was supposed to open. Districts, teachers, and students had no way to prepare for that kind of remote learning and the infrastructure that is required. Canceling state testing last year was quite understandable. Whether or not the US Department of Education is open to granting testing waivers this year is an entirely different question that I can’t answer. These are unprecedented times. But we need to plan according to the laws that are on the books until such time as we learn whether a waiver will be asked for by OSPI or granted by the Department of Education. The laws define the NGSS as the 2013 Washington State Science Learning Standards (2013 WSSLS) and the laws require our state science assessment to be comprehensive, equally valuing the three dimensions of the NGSS and with the content, equally valuing all science disciplines. Currently, according to the laws on the books, we must assume there will be a spring science assessment and that it will be comprehensive. 

Ed: If time and distance mean we can’t cover as much information in a year, what should teachers focus on? 

Brian: We know that people have different materials to teach from just like in the early days of the 2013 WSSLS adoption. And at that time, our advice (together with OSPI) was to focus on student engagement in the practices of science (a.k.a. the Science and Engineering Practices). These practices are the same in life science, in earth and space science, and in physical science… which means they are tested in each of those disciplines as well. I believe our strategy from 2013 would be an important one to consider now. Find ways to engage students in all eight science and engineering practices. It is worth mentioning that “inquiry” and “hands-on” are not the same thing. I think we lose sight of that oftentimes because it’s so much fun to do the experiments. However, the 2013 WSSLS want students to engage in thinking like a scientist as well as doing things like a scientist. There are eight science and engineering practices. And having students perform experiments is a small fraction of 1/8 of them. I think we can find ways to help students do more than 7/8 other science and engineering practices in remote settings. 

Ed: Brian, I don’t mean to be rude. But people are out of their classrooms. They don’t have their materials. And many people may not feel they have the expertise to invent engagement like that. Are there any examples of what this could look like in a remote setting? 

Brian: It’s a fair question. And happily, I can answer YES to it. I’ve talked with you before about OpenSciEd. It’s a national organization — a consortium, really — and last spring when we went into emergency learning, they convened experts not only in NGSS but also in online learning and they created some documents to help people think about student engagement in science in remote settings. They used the routines that support and structure their middle school science units and their thoughts of different ways to engage students that way in remote settings. Now, I’m not going to say this is definitive. I think it’s a starting place. And as teachers across the nation try these engagement strategies this year, we’re going to learn a lot more! I should also mention that Louisiana is working with some support from the OpenSciEd organization to create remote learning adaptations of their units.
Read more about OpenSciEd adaptations.

Ed: While we’re on it, is there any more news about OpenSciEd? 

Brian: You know I’m a fan of these materials because what I want to call the “NGSS Brain Trust” has been involved in their development. They have more units that were released this August (so now there are three released units in each grade level). And, some very exciting news is that this month they are beginning their work on a high school scope and sequence! Just like their middle school materials, these will be open educational resources. And then later this year in 2020, they will also begin on a K-5 scope and sequence! By 2022 the middle school materials should be complete and released and we should see high school and elementary school materials begin piloting! In Washington State, we very much want to continue to be a part of that piloting, so I may be reaching out to involve teachers in it. 

Ed: And for people who don’t have OpenSciEd? Or for the non-middle school teachers, what can they do? 

Brian: We need to think beyond the content in science. In the Topic Arrangement of the NGSS, the writers crafted “essential questions” for each grade level that students should be able to answer with these standards. This won’t be a complete and satisfying answer for everyone. But teachers can look at those essential questions and consider the materials they have access to, and think about “what must my students know and be able to do to answer these big questions?” But I stress again, it’s not just what they know, but what they can do to answer questions like this. 

Ed: This has been a great talk, Brian. Thank you. If you had to capture this in an elevator speech, what might you say? 

Brian: The Next Generation Science Standards intend all standards for all students and letting go of that vision is inequitable. For the time being, we may need to foreground the science and engineering practices that are common amongst every scientific and engineering discipline. It’s about doing and thinking like a scientist to make sense of the world around you, and kids can do that no matter where they are. I don’t mean to make it sound like it will be easy in remote settings. But I do believe it will be valuable! Our state’s Regional Science Coordinators are working together with OSPI to get these messages centrally housed and ready to access. Look for that announcement soon!