NJ Spotlight published the following article on 5/27/2014. To read the full article, click here.

NJ’s Next Generation Science Standards: The Quiet Revolution

John Mooney | May 27, 2014

As New Jersey schools continue to move to the Common Core State Standards for language arts and math, the state’s expected adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards is getting less attention but may be equally transformative.

The New Jersey Board of Education is poised to approve the new science standards as part of its five-year review of the standards for all the main subject areas.

Advocates and science educators say it could portend a big shift for science education in the state. But questions remain to the roll-out of the new standards — and possibly a new way of teaching — just as educators statewide are dealing with a host of reforms, including how they are evaluated.

The Next Generation standards were developed and written by a consortium of 26 states, including New Jersey, and are meant to introduce more hands-on experience and exploration to science instruction, supplanting the traditional focus on memorizing content.

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