U.S. Science Education Community is to Comment on a Set of Science Standards for the Nation's School Children. (May 12, 2012)

ScienceInsider reports that:

A draft of the Next Generation Science Standards has been posted by Achieve Inc. along with a coalition of high-tech companies, foundations, and state and local governments that hope to use their collective influence to create a voluntary national science curriculum where none now exists. The standards, a 2-year effort funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, are built around a novel "framework" [entitled A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas] for teaching science that blends content with how scientists do their work and its practical applications.

The public has until 1 June to submit comments. A second draft is expected to be issued this fall in hopes of finalizing the document in early 2013. Some 26 states are already involved in writing the standards, which would need to be adopted separately by each state.

The summary of the 383-page "framework" developed by the National Academies of Sciences is printed below.

The May 18, 2012 issue of Science will feature an inside look at the draft standards.