Variations among Next Generation Science Standards and Other NRC Framework-Based Science Standards: Differences in Layout, Typography, and What Teachers Notice

Science standards across 44 states in the United States are often assumed to be equivalent because they all based on National Research Council’s (NRC) Framework for K-12 Education. Twenty of those adopted Next Generation Standards (NGSS), which is NRC Framework, and 24 other developed their own Framework-based science standards. In this article, two related studies described that focused assessing homogeneity assumption. first study, a comparative document analysis categorized variety ways performance expectations presented. Analysis also relative placement information components three-dimensional learning. To assess how variations affect teacher noticing, second study nearly 300 elementary school teachers viewed, random order, seemingly similar fourth-grade from three states. Comparisons teachers’ noticing student objectives, elements stood out, rationales regarding noticing. Though both underscored do integrate tenets, findings counter assumption necessarily each or NGSS.