Dear STAT Colleagues,

A new set of national science education standards, called the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), is currently being developed. The first draft of the NGSS is scheduled to be released for public comment in mid-to-late April 2012. Various groups throughout the United States will be reviewing the first draft of the NGSS and will submit their comments to the NGSS writing teams.

Last month, an informal team from Texas attended a national meeting in Raleigh to acquire more background on the NGSS and develop a plan for review. Delegations from 41 states and the District of Columbia attended the Raleigh meeting. The Texas delegation included:

• Kenn Heydrick, The University of Texas at Tyler - Ingenuity Center, Research Professor High school classroom teacher (10 years), district-wide Science Coordinator (15 years), TEA Science Director (3 years), currently at UT-Tyler/Austin
• Ross Ann Hill, Science Teachers Association of Texas, President, Middle school classroom teacher (28 years), currently at Idalou Middle School
• Haidee Williams, SEDL, Project Director, Middle and high school classroom teacher (18 years), School Curriculum Director (3 years), ESC Science Specialist (5 years), currently at SEDL (6 years)
• Barbara Taylor, The University of Texas at Austin - Dana Center, Senior Program Coordinator, Middle school classroom teacher (20 years), high school classroom teacher (9 years), currently at UT-Austin Dana Center
• Sandy Dochen, IBM, Manager, Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas Business (15 years), Chamber of Commerce (9 years), various community/education leadership roles
• Patrick White, Texas Instruments, State Policy Director Classroom teacher (9 years), administrator (8 years), director of STEM education nonprofit (4 years), business (17 years)

Once the first draft of the NGSS is released in mid-late April, we will have 3 weeks to review and consolidate our comments. Our Texas delegation would like to invite STAT members to be a part of this review process. If you want to participate, you are asked to review one strand of standards, which include:

• Physical science, grades K-12, including its three dimensions - process, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas
• Life science, grades K-12, including its three dimensions - process, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas
• Earth and space science, grades K-12, including its three dimensions - process, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas
• Engineering/Technology/Applications of Science, grades 9-12, including its three dimensions - process, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas

If you are interested in serving on the NGSS review panel from Texas, complete the nomination form at  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/M2T9JQVby Monday, April 16th. Review members will be notified quickly and will be expected to attend a full-day meeting on Saturday, May 12 in Austin. All travel expenses will be the responsibility of the participant.

Please consider helping STAT in this important review process. STAT would like to have a voice at the national level in developing these important science education standards.

It is important that Texas educators be part of the conversation in improving science education. Previous national efforts, such as the National Science Education Standards and the Project 2061 Benchmarks, influenced the revision of previous Science TEKS. Likewise, the NGSS can influence the development of future TEKS curriculum standards, assessments, and professional development.

Thank you again for your consideration in helping STAT!

Ross Ann Hill

STAT President