The reach of the Next Generation Science Standards got a little wider yesterday as the District of Columbia’s board of education voted 8-0 to adopt them. D.C. joins eight states that have formally embraced the K-12 standards since they were finalized in April.
The science standards were in collaboration with several national organizations. Key tenets of the standards include providing a greater emphasis on depth over breadth in science education and asking students to apply their learning through the practices of scientific inquiry and engineering design.
The adoption landscape has been quiet for a couple of months now, with the last action coming when in early October. The seven other adopting states include California, Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
The action by the D.C. school board comes the same week that an expert panel assembled by the National Research Council issued a detailed, 256-page to reflect the Next Generation Science Standards.