Aligning an Existing Curriculum to the NGSS

biologycorner.com /2013/11/09/aligning-an-existing-curriculum-to-the-ngss/
My freshman class uses the Levine and Miller Biology Textbook from 2004, and theres no sign that any
money will be available anytime soon for a new textbook even though our state will likely be adopting
the NGSS. That leaves me, like many other teachers, looking at a somewhat outdated textbook and
finding a way to update a curriculum to align it with the new standards.
While many of us might
become stressed by this
task, I look at it as an
opportunity to clean the
attic. For a long time Ive
had the sense that the
curriculum is too focused
on trivialities, such as
taxonomy of protozoa, and
does not contain enough
writing, thinking, and
*doing* science. The
adoption of new standards
is a good time to do some
curriculum housekeeping,
a time to remove outdated
topics and lessons, and
reestablish overall course
goals. As a department,
we have been given
professional development time to collaborate with other teachers to redesign the curriculum, but in
these discussions it is clear that coming to a consensus on what is important to teach is going to be a
challenge.
Weve also been given access to a curriculum alignment tool, in our case, we are using Course Mason,
which allows us to input units of study, define which standards the unit addresses,and upload
assessments. The expectation is that this will be an ongoing process and not something we can
accomplish in a few days. We are currently at the stage of unpacking the standards and looking at a
single unit we cover in class to determine how it aligns to the new standards.

Phase 1: Unpacking the Standards

You would think this would be the easiest step, but I theres so much information attached to each
standard, that it quickly becomes overwhelming. To make it easier to digest, I retyped the Disciplinary
Core Ideas for the NGSS site into a manageable, quick reference list. This document allows me to
quickly check the list of standards without all the extra information or having to wade through the NGSS
website. I currently have this list taped above my computer so that any time I start a new unit, I can
quickly check it. I am not at this time trying to change the entire curriculum, and in fact, Im going
about my year much as I did last year. The difference is that Im starting to tag and sort lessons I
already use. My tools are the list and a stack of post-it notes.
The photo below shows my lovely work space in my classroom, the shades are usually closed due to a
glare cast on the whiteboard, but why let the space go to waste. The back of the shade is an excellent

place to store notes.

Phase 2: Prioritizing Course

Standards
As we looked at each standard, we
determined which standards would be
classified as Essential, which would be
Important and which would be
Supporting. The idea is that in a single
course, such as biology, there would be
about 4 essential standards. These are
defined as absolute essentials needed
for students to be successful in the
following grade or course. These MUST
be incorporated, assessed and explicitly
taught, and assessed many times
in multiple contexts throughout many
units during the year (course).
We interpreted this to mean that the
standards that are essential are those
that come up over and over throughout
the course. Our choices were based on
an analysis of the current curriculum and
how often these ideas were repeated
throughout the year. The essential
standards we chose (after much debate)
were:
1. HS.LS1.1 Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the structure of DNA determines the
structure of proteins which carry out the essential functions of life through systems of specialized cells.
2. HS.LS2.6 Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in
ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but
changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
3. HS.LS2.7 Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the
environment and biodiversity.
4. HS.LS3.3 Apply concepts of statistics and probability to explain the variation and distribution of
expressed traits in a population.
We then identified standards we felt were important, defined as standards are extremely
important because, although students can be successful in the following grade or course without
complete mastery, they will likely struggle. These should be incorporated, assessed and explicitly
taught and assessed in exactly one unit.
Supporting standards were also identified. These standards are great enrichment if students have
already mastered the other standards or if they acquire it within the context of a priority standard.
These can be incorporated under priority standards, but it is not necessary to spend much time directly
teaching or assessing them unless all students have mastered priority standards. These standards will
never be assessed.
The entire process took several days, and we were slowed by heated discussions on whether a

particular topic was important or supporting. There was a rough consensus in the end, with some
points tabled for another day. We could have probably debated this points for weeks, but decided to
just move on.
My experience in these collaborative groups exposes how many sacred cows we have as science
teachers. Those of us who have taught the class for decades can be quite
reticent to change anything. For instance, every year, we do the chapter on
protists, which includes the anatomy of amoeba, paramecium, and euglena, and
culminates in a lab where they observe these microorganisms. The chapter
takes almost two weeks, but doesnt seem to fit anywhere into the standards.
We have to question whether to include this unit in next years curriculum, or
remove it to free up time to cover a topic that isnt addressed in detail, such as
photosynthesis.

Phase 3: Identify and Name Units

During this phase, we opened up the big binders that go with biology and looked
at how we would name our units. We often divide the curriculum into chapters,
and thats one way to identify a unit. For our current biology class, we named the units for the year
long course as:
1) Science of Biology
2) Cell Biology
3) Evolution and Taxonomy
4) Invertebrate Anatomy
5) Vertebrate Anatomy
6) Mendelian Genetics
7) DNA and Biotechnology
8) Ecology
9) Plants
The units on anatomy are slated for revision. One thing our entire group did agree on, is that too much
time is spent on chapters that cover animal phyla. We have chapters on mollusks, annelids, worms,
cnidarians, fish, reptiles, birds, mammalsetc. Each chapter can take over a week to cover with a lot
of emphasis on taxonomy and characteristics. We felt that we could combine these chapters into one
main unit on Comparative Anatomy. Nothing will be changed this year, and perhaps not even the
following year, but at least we are starting to consider some changes to a curriculum we have used for
almost a decade.
Phase 4 will include the assigning of standards to units. For this task, we are dividing into pairs to go
through each of the units and determine which standards apply. This is a task that is currently in
progress.
Overall, I think we have made some headway, and the standards seem less like a monster when you
break them into small pieces. The NGSS site really did not do a great job with making the standards
less intimidating. There is a lot of information there and help to work out how each standard can be
taught. The thing that is really needed is time, time for teachers to work through each standard, time
for teachers to collaborate, time to rewrite lessons.