REL Southwest Ask A REL Response
Educator Effectiveness:
Approaches for Training and Supporting Teachers with Implementation of Next Generation Science Standards
July 2020
Question:
What approaches have been most successful for training and supporting teachers with implementation of Next Generation Science Standards?
Response:
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Thank you for the question you submitted to our REL Reference Desk. We have prepared the following memo with research references to help answer your question. For each reference, we provide an abstract, excerpt, or summary written by the study’s author or publisher. Following an established Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southwest research protocol, we conducted a search for research reports as well as descriptive study articles on the most successful approaches for training and supporting teachers with implementation of Next Generation Science Standards.
We have not evaluated the quality of references and the resources provided in this response. We offer them only for your reference. Also, we searched the references in the response from the most commonly used resources of research, but they are not comprehensive, and other relevant references and resources may exist. References provided are listed in alphabetical order, not necessarily in order of relevance. We do not include sources that are not freely available to the requestor.
Research References
Guzey, S. S., Tank, K., Wang, H.-H., Roehrig, G., & Moore, T. (2014). A high-quality professional development for teachers of grades 3-6 for implementing engineering into classrooms. School Science and Mathematics, 114(3), 139–149. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1028793. Retrieved from https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=enepubs
Kang, E. J. S., McCarthy, M. J., & Donovan, C. (2019). Elementary teachers’ enactment of the NGSS science and engineering practices. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 30(7), 788–814. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1230141. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334178160
Krajcik, J., Codere, S., Dahsah, C., Bayer, R., & Mun, K. (2014). Planning instruction to meet the intent of the Next Generation Science Standards. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 25(2), 157–175. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1039014. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1007/s10972-014-9383-2
Lotan, R. A., & Burns, D. (2019). The Instructional Leadership Corps: Teachers leading sustainable professional learning in their communities. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED603437
McGee, S., & Nutakki, N. (2017). The impact of adapting a general professional development framework to the constraints of in-service professional development on the Next Generation Science Standards in urban settings. Journal of Urban Learning, Teaching, and Research, 13, 73–89. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1149889
Penuel, W. R., Harris, C. J., & DeBarger, A. H. (2015). Implementing the next generation science standards. Phi Delta Kappan, 96(6), 45-49. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1058958. Retrieved from https://kappanonline.org/implementing-next-generation-science-standards-penuel-harris-debarger/
Richman, L. J., Haines, S., & Fello, S. (2019). Collaborative professional development focused on promoting effective implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards. Science Education International, 30(3), 200–208. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1230177
Utley, J., Ivey, T., Hammack, R., & High, K. (2019). Enhancing engineering education in the elementary school. School Science and Mathematics, 119(4), 203–212. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1212315. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1/15490/Hammack_SSM_2019_FINAL.pdf
Additional Organizations to Consult
BSCS – https://bscs.org/
- Five Tools and Processes for Translating the NGSS – https://bscs.org/resources/educator-resource-center/five-tools-and-processes-for-translating-the-ngss/
- Guidelines for Assessing Instructional Materials that Exemplify the NGSS – https://bscs.org/resources/reports/guidelines-for-assessing-instructional-materials-that-exemplify-the-ngss/
Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education (CADRE) – https://cadrek12.org/
- better informed about the work that is being done,
- continually building on what we have collectively learned,
- working with our schools, communities, and policy-makers to make our findings and products accessible and usable, and
- progressively able to address new and more challenging issues—including those issues that extend beyond the limits of what any singular research project can impact.
National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) NGSS Hub – https://ngss.nsta.org/
- About NGSS
- Curriculum Planning
- Classroom Resources
- Professional
- Learning
- NGSS Blog
Next Generation Science Standards – https://www.nextgenscience.org/
- Classroom Sample Tasks
- Rubric for Lessons and Units
- Middle and High School Course Mapping
- Evidence Statements
Methods
Keywords and Search Strings
The following keywords and search strings were used to search the reference databases and other sources:
- [(“Next Generation Science Standards” OR “NGSS”) AND “support for implementation”)]
- [(“Next Generation Science Standards” OR “NGSS”) AND “professional development”)]
- instructional support (“Next Generation Science Standards” OR “NGSS”)
- teacher training (“Next Generation Science Standards” OR “NGSS”)
- tutorials (“Next Generation Science Standards” OR “NGSS”)
- [(“Next Generation Science Standards” OR “NGSS”) AND (“disciplinary core ideas” OR “science and engineering practices” OR “crosscutting concepts”)]
- [(“Next Generation Science Standards” OR “NGSS”) AND (“assessments”)]
- [(“Next Generation Science Standards” OR “NGSS”) AND (“curriculum”)]
- [(“science and engineering practices”) AND (“support for implementation”)]
- [(“science and engineering practices”) AND (“professional development”)]
- instructional support (“science and engineering practices”)
- teacher training (“science and engineering practices”)
- tutorials (“science and engineering practices”)
- [(“disciplinary core ideas”) AND (“support teacher training (“disciplinary core ideas”)
- [(“disciplinary core ideas”) AND (“professional development”)]
- instructional support (“disciplinary core ideas”)
- teacher training (“disciplinary core ideas”)
- tutorials (“disciplinary core ideas”)
- [(“crosscutting concepts”) AND (“support implementation”)]
- [(“crosscutting concepts”) AND (“professional development”)]
- instructional support (“crosscutting concepts”)
- teacher training (“crosscutting concepts”)
- tutorials (“crosscutting concepts”)
Databases and Resources
We searched ERIC for relevant, peer-reviewed research references. ERIC is a free online library of more than 1.7 million citations of education research sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). Additionally, we searched the What Works Clearinghouse.
Reference Search and Selection Criteria
When we were searching and reviewing resources, we considered the following criteria:
- Date of the publication: References and resources published from 2005 to present, were include in the search and review.
- Search priorities of reference sources: Search priority is given to study reports, briefs, and other documents that are published and/or reviewed by IES and other federal or federally funded organizations, academic databases, including ERIC, EBSCO databases, JSTOR database, PsychInfo, PsychArticle, and Google Scholar.
- Methodology: The following methodological priorities/considerations were given in the review and selection of the references: (a) study types—randomized control trials, quasi-experiments, surveys, descriptive data analyses, literature reviews, policy briefs, and so forth, generally in this order; (b) target population, samples (representativeness of the target population, sample size, volunteered or randomly selected, and so forth), study duration, and so forth; and (c) limitations, generalizability of the findings and conclusions, and so forth.