Public Survey for Science and History and Social Science Standards DRAFT

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Arizona Science and History and Social Studies Standards Review Survey page

Background Information Thank you for taking time to review the DRAFT of the Arizona Science and History/Social Science Standards and provide the Arizona Department of Education with your feedback. This survey is designed to obtain the opinions and comments of educators, students, businesses, policy makers, and the public regarding the revision of the Arizona Science Standards.

The development of this draft began in January 2017 under the guidance of the Arizona Department of Education. A statewide committee of science educators reviewed Arizona's current Arizona Science Standards, other states' standards in this content area, and research and guidance documents on student learning of science. These documents were used to guide the development of this DRAFT.

Standards outline what a student needs to know, understand, and be able to do by the end of each grade. Standards build across grade levels in a progression of increasing understanding and through a range of cognitive demand levels. Standards are adopted at the state level by the State Board of Education (A.R.S. §§15-701 and 15-701.01). Arizona retains authority to approve and modify academic standards; there is no federal law requiring the adoption of specific standards.
Curriculum includes all the resources used for teaching and learning the standards (textbooks, reading material, lesson plans). Curriculum is adopted at a local level by districts and schools. Neither the State Board nor the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) has the authority to adopt or mandate school curriculum. Under A.R.S. §§15-721 and 15-722, local governing boards (both district and charter) have the sole authority to adopt curriculum via public meetings, allowing for community input regarding what instructional materials are used in classrooms.
Instruction – The methods used by teachers to teach their students. Instructional techniques are employed by individual teachers in response to the needs of the students in their classes to help them progress through the curriculum in order to master the standards.

This survey is to provide feedback on the DRAFT of the Science and History/Social Science Standards; it does not ask about locally adopted curriculum. This survey asks for feedback in 3 major areas: respondent demographics; general impressions of the standards and recommendations to the State Board; and feedback on specific standards and sections of the document.

At the close of this public review period, your responses will be reviewed by a state-wide committee of science educators and parent/community focus groups. The working groups will edit this draft based on comments and submit the final document to the State Board of Education for adoption.