NGSS and NYSSLS-Designed Curriculum

New Visions for Public Schools has designed and curated instructional materials that make up full-course curricula for Living Environment and Earth Science. Across the 80 schools we work with in New York City, we know that many teachers are the sole science teacher on their grade. That, combined with high teacher turnover, can lead to a lack of community around how to teach science. Our curriculum work started in 2012 as an effort to ensure teachers have access to high-quality, curated materials. We now do much more, ensuring coherence in our materials, and usefulness across a range of settings.

With the adoption of new science learning standards in New York State -- the New York State Science Learning Standards (NYSSLS), an adaptation of NGSS --  we are re-designing much of our curricular offerings. We have a cadre of teachers, teacher leaders, and school supervisors who have been collaborating with us for the past 2 years to figure out the pace and focus of this re-design process.

Why is full-course curriculum so important?

We know, from waves of standards transitions, that for many teachers and supervisors it is challenging to go from the language of standards documents to an actionable plan to enact the standards. We are committed to learning by doing, and that goes for learning about new standards too! We believe that learning about new standards entails experiencing the new ways of teaching and learning they demand. Our professional learning workshops provide opportunities for teachers to have such experiences as a community. We strive to include support for such experiences directly in our materials for teachers and students as well!