On December 17, 2014 USTA made a declaration of support for the new Utah Science and Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards. The following email was sent to all UtSTA members:
2015 USTA Conference
Dear UtSTA Members
As many of you know, Utah has been working on updating and improving the teaching standards for grades 6 through 8, and plans to continue with Elementary standards and grades 9-12 in following year. These standards are known as the Utah Science and Engineering Educational (SEEd) Standards. Our current standards are more than 10 years old and since that time, there have been tremendous changes in science, technology, and educational research that Utah students are missing. Also, average scores of Utah students on the ACT and college readiness tests show that our current standards have not helped prepare students for science at the college level.
To produce the new standards, writing teams were organized and consisted of classroom teachers from each grade level and university representatives. These teams were given as a reference for their standard drafts A Framework for K-12 Science Education (current research of the best ways to teach science by the National Research Council) and the Next Generation Science Standards (current standards that were written and organized based on the K-12 Science Framework Research). With these tools, the writing teams worked together to organize and write new standards. These standards integrate content and intended learning outcomes (ILO’s) into what are now known as performance expectations. The performance expectations tie the content with the nature of science practices and cross cutting concepts that tie all science principles together. Current educational research shows that integrating these concepts together provides a better learning environment that leads students to inquiry and active learning. This, in turn, leads to better retention of information and understanding of how science truly functions.
When the drafting of the new standards were announced and it was made clear that they were based on national research and standards, some people in the community have tried to connect them directly to their opposition of the common core and started to fight against them. This opposition is very vocal. They are sending letters of opposition to their state school board and legislative representatives as well as the governor’s office. We know that not all of you have had a chance to read the SEEd Standard drafts for yourselves and want to invite you to review them during the next public review period. Take the time to look over them to see for yourself what they have to offer Utah’s students. Until you get that chance, we must make it clear that UtSTA Board representatives have reviewed the new drafts and are excited to declare that the UtSTA Board supports the Utah SEEd Standards and see them as the best option for our students. We understand that the adoption of these standards does bring the possibility of change to some classroom teachers’ content; however, please understand that USTA and state organizations will work tirelessly to support teachers with professional development and support along the way. UtSTA will do all that it can to support Utah students and provide them with the best science education, especially one that is based on educational research and rich in current science content. Much like advances in medical and scientific tools, these standards provide the amazing science teachers of Utah with a better tool for educating our students.
The UtSTA Board has prepared a flyer that describes four different and important aspects of the new Utah SEEd Standards: Why new science standards are needed in Utah, what the new science standards will bring to Utah science education, the ACT and benchmark scores that show current science standards are not sufficiently helping prepare our students, and what actions we all must take to show our support for improved science education in Utah. We hope that you will take the time to read over this flyer, pass it around to other teachers and administrators, and then spread the word and add your support of improved science education in Utah. Please work to become informed on the process taken to draft these standards and reasons behind these important changes.
Please join us in support of the new Utah Science Engineering Education Standards.
Sincerely,
Josh Stowers
USTA President
USTA SEEd flyer.pdf