Our current vision is for Science Anchors to serve as a model for K–12 science education standards that draws from current national standards documents (Benchmarks for Science Literacy and National Science Education Standards)
but would be more streamlined and focused than the current documents. Content in the science disciplines would be organized around a small number of big ideas that develop over the K–12 span, and crosscutting concepts and skills that would unite the disciplines in a deep, meaningful way. Attention would be given to the number of concepts and skills students would be expected to acquire each year so learning goals are realistic for students and manageable by teachers.
We do not intend for Science Anchors to replace the NSES and Benchmarks
or state standards that have recently been revised and legislated; instead, we will build upon the work already completed. Our goal is to prioritize and organize the core ideas in science, update the science where necessary, and provide guidance for establishing clear and specific performance expectations that offer the same clear learning objectives for curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Also useful will be the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Science Framework,
which is a carefully selected subset of the NSES and Benchmarks.
To show how this vision could be achieved, NSTA developed a model of what Science Anchors might look like (see Proposed Model Framework). This model is meant to be the beginning of a multi-phase collaborative process that will involve the National Research Council (NRC), Project 2061 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Achieve, Inc., and eventually other groups of science educators to advance this effort. The NRC is organizing a planning meeting to refine plans for the Science
Anchors project and to develop an agenda for a symposium to gather input on Science Anchors from a larger audience.