Resources

NGSS Early Implementers is a four-year initiative created to help eight California school districts and two charter management organizations, supported by WestEd’s K–12 Alliance, implement the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

Designed for professional developers and administrators, this report describes 10 tools and processes that are central in the professional learning provided to teachers and administrators in the participating school districts.

The tools and processes are designed to aid NGSS lesson planning, NGSS instruction, and administrator support during implementation. The 10 tools and processes presented in the publication are listed below.

• Criteria for Choosing Phenomena
• Phenomena-Based, Three-Dimensional Conceptual Flow
• 5E Instructional Model for Developing Learning Sequences
• Teaching Learning Collaborative (TLC)
• Looking at Student Work
• Questioning Strategies that Promote Student Discourse
• Sense-Making Student Notebooks
• Principal Academy
• Walk-Through Protocol
• Evidence of Learning Protocol

All tools and processes were created or adapted to be used explicitly for supporting NGSS implementation. The report describes each item, how it has been used, and how participants are benefitting from it. Other districts and schools can learn from, draw upon, and adapt the items to support their own implementation efforts.