The Board of Education has approved a new curriculum that would elevate the Commonwealth\u2019s science programs to national standards.
\nBeginning school year 2014-2015, the Public School System will enforce the \u201cNext Generation Science Standards\u201d to better prepare CNMI students for globally competitive science careers, including in the field of engineering.<\/p>\n
The current science standards at PSS were approved in the \u201990s and were last revised in 2005.<\/p>\n
According to Jackie Quitugua, associate commissioner for instruction and curriculum, PSS began preparing for the shift to the new standards in 2010.<\/p>\n
She said the Next Generation Science Standards will introduce CNMI students to different dimension of learning, including, among others, new science and engineering practices and the disciplinary core ideas that include three domains of science\u2014life science, physical science, and earth and space science.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking at elementary through high school be accorded the \u2018Next Generation Science Standards\u2019 so we are aligned with our vision to get our kids ready in the global society, with career and college vision in mind,\u201d said Quitugua.<\/p>\n
BOE vice chair Lucy Blanco Maratita expressed worry, however, about the readiness of teachers for the full implementation of the standard next school year.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo our teachers and staff possess the knowledge and requisite skills to teach our kids this generation standards?\u201d she asked at a recent board meeting, noting the lack of engineers on island that the PSS can tap for the program.<\/p>\n
According to Quitugua, PSS survey results conducted among middle and high schools teachers show their readiness and capability to embrace the new curriculum.<\/p>\n
In fact, she said, PSS has a list of teachers who have attended intensive trainings specifically for the new standards. Expert sources and PSS partners are also reportedly ready to provide assistance to the CNMI in implementing the new science standards.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are aggressively working with coordinators and expert panels outside the CNMI to help us and the only piece we\u2019re seeing support is the engineering piece. We do have teachers in the CNMI with engineering background and we have sought participation in the training design,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
According to Blanco-Maratita, PSS still has a lot of work to do on instructional strategies required under the accreditation team\u2019s recommendation. She says it\u2019s important that PSS teachers possess the skills and professional training they need to enforce the new science standards. Based on documents provided to the board, Blanco-Maratita said that \u201cit is really based on perception of teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Education Commissioner Dr. Rita A. Sablan made it clear that there\u2019s a difference between curriculum and instruction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe instruction is in place. So the curriculum we\u2019re bringing to the board is the science standards. Do you agree with us that we need to revamp our science standards now and bring the national standards wherein our students, when they go anywhere outside the U.S\u2026.that they will be ready to participate in these science careers? We\u2019re asking the board to help us elevate the science curriculum to the national standards so students of the CNMI will be competitive,\u201d explained the commissioner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Board of Education has approved a new curriculum that would elevate the Commonwealth\u2019s science…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26,163,40],"class_list":["post-29622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-cnmi","tag-kids","tag-pss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29622\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}