[52 Pa.B. 3946]
[Saturday, July 16, 2022]
[Continued from previous Web Page]
Annex A
TITLE 22. EDUCATION
PART I. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
Subpart A. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
CHAPTER 4. ACADEMIC STANDARDS AND ASSESSMENT
GENERAL PROVISIONS § 4.3. Definitions.
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
ACTS—Area career and technical school—A public school that provides career and technical education to secondary school students, out-of-school youth and adults in a geographical area comprised and operated by one or more school districts and established under sections 1840—1853 of the School Code (24 P.S. §§ 18-1840— 18-1853).
* * * * * Board—The State Board of Education established under sections 2601-B—2606-B of the School Code (24 P.S. §§ 26-2601-B—26-2606-B).
Career and technical education—Programs under public supervision and control which provide an organized process of learning experiences designed to develop integrated academic and occupational skills, knowledge, attitudes, work habits and leadership ability for entry into and advancement within various levels of employment in occupational areas of agriculture, business, marketing and distribution, health, home economics and trade and industry and for participation in postsecondary education and training.
Chief school administrator—The superintendent of a school district, the superintendent of an ACTS or the chief executive officer of a charter school.
Cooperative career and technical education—A planned method of instruction developed through a signed cooperative arrangement among school representatives, students, parents and employers in the community to provide students with an opportunity to alternate in-school academic and career and technical instruction in entry-level paid employment in an occupational field, in which the student's total occupational work experience is planned, coordinated and supervised by the school in close cooperation with the employer.
* * * * * Employment area—A geographic area where career and technical education program completers are most likely to be employed.
* * * * * School entity—A local public education provider (for example, public school district, charter school, cyber charter school, ACTS or intermediate unit).
School organization—The organization of a school district's programs into kindergarten, primary, intermediate level, middle level and high school programs, including programs operated at ACTSs.
* * * * * Tech-prep program—A combined secondary and postsecondary program which leads to an associate degree or certificate and employment by providing technical preparation in engineering technology, applied science, mechanical, industrial or practical art or trade, agriculture, health or business, including development of competence in mathematics, science and communications through a sequential course of study.
§ 4.4. General policies.
* * * * * (e) The Department will provide support to school districts, ACTSs and charter schools, including cyber charter schools, in developing educational programs that enable students to attain academic standards under § 4.12. Department support will include:
(1) Establishment of a voluntary model curriculum and diagnostic supports aligned with State academic standards in each of the content areas assessed by the Keystone Exams under § 4.51b(i) (relating to Keystone Exams).
(2) Assistance in the development of effective student tutoring, remediation and extended instructional time programs.
(3) Opportunities for continuing professional education designed to improve instruction in each of the content areas assessed by the Keystone Exams under § 4.51b(i).
(4) Technical guidance in developing local assessments that meet the requirements of § 4.24(c)(1)(iii)(B) (relating to high school graduation requirements), upon request.
(f) The Department may not, and the Board will not, require school entities to utilize a Statewide curriculum or Statewide reading lists.
ACADEMIC STANDARDS AND PLANNING § 4.11. Purpose of public education.
* * * * * (g) Public schools provide instruction throughout the curriculum so that students may develop knowledge and skills in the following areas:
(1) English language arts.
(2) Mathematics.
(3) Science and environment and ecology.
(4) Technology and engineering.
(5) Social studies (civics and government, geography, economics and history).
(6) Arts and humanities.
(7) Career education and work.
(8) Health, safety and physical education.
(9) Family and consumer science.
* * * * * § 4.12. Academic standards.
(a) School entities may develop, expand or improve existing academic standards in the following content areas:
(1) The following apply:
(i) Through June 30, 2025: Science and technology. Study of the natural world and facts, principles, theories and laws in the areas of biology, chemistry, physics and earth sciences. Technology is the application of science to enable societal development, including food and fiber production, manufacturing, building, transportation and communication. Science and technology share the use of the senses, science processes, inquiry, investigation, analysis and problem solving strategies. The Pennsylvania Core Standards for Reading in Science and Technology and the Pennsylvania Core Standards for Writing in Science and Technology will be an appendix to the Commonwealth's academic standards for Science and Technology upon publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
(ii) Effective July 1, 2025: Pennsylvania Integrated Standards for Science, Environment, Ecology, Technology and Engineering (Grades K—5). Guide the elementary-level study of the natural and human-made world through inquiry, problem-solving, critical thinking and authentic exploration. The integration of these disciplines in the elementary grades highlights the interconnectedness of scientific study and the integral relationship between humans and the environment.
(2) The following apply:
(i) Through June 30, 2025: Environment and ecology. Understanding the components of ecological systems and their interrelationships with social systems and technologies. These components incorporate the disciplines of resource management, agricultural diversity, government and the impact of human actions on natural systems. This interaction leads to the study of watersheds, threatened and endangered species, pest management and the development of laws and regulations.
(ii) Effective July 1, 2025: Pennsylvania Integrated Standards for Science, Environment and Ecology (Grades 6—12). Utilize a three-dimensional approach to guide the study of physical sciences, life sciences, and earth and space sciences at the middle and high school levels. The standards highlight the critical intersections of these disciplines with environmental science, ecology, and agriculture. These three-dimensional standards integrate disciplinary core ideas, practices in science and engineering, and crosscutting concepts into coherent learning progressions across the grade bands.
(iii) Effective July 1, 2025: Pennsylvania Technology and Engineering Standards (Grades 6—12). Define the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary for establishing literacy in technology and engineering literacy. Students develop a practical understanding of how humans are influenced by science and technology. Four core disciplinary standards describe practices in technology and engineering and include specific benchmarks for students in grade bands 6—8 and 9—12.
(3) Social studies.
(i) History. Study of the record of human experience including important events; interactions of culture, race and ideas; the nature of prejudice; change and continuity in political systems; effects of technology; importance of global-international perspectives; and the integration of geography, economics and civics studies on major developments in the history of the Commonwealth, the United States and the world.
* * * * * (5) Career education and work. Understanding career options in relationship to individual interests, aptitudes and skills including the relationship between changes in society, technology, government and economy and their effect on individuals and careers. Development of knowledge and skill in job-seeking and job-retaining skills and, for students completing career and technical education programs, the skills to succeed in the occupation for which they are prepared.
* * * * * (i) No sooner than every 5 years and no later than every 10 years, the Board will review the State academic standards and State assessments under this section to determine if they are appropriate, clear, specific and challenging, and will make revisions as necessary by revising this chapter.
(j) The Department may not expand the collection of student data and, in accordance with section 444 of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C.A. § 1232g), regarding family educational and privacy rights, may not collect personal family data due to the implementation of Pennsylvania Core Standards in Appendix A-2.
CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION § 4.21. Elementary education: primary and intermediate levels.
(a) The primary program shall ordinarily be completed by children who are approximately 6 years of age. School districts, including charter schools, shall provide opportunities for individualized rates of learning and social and emotional development that reflect differing rates of development and learning styles of young children.
* * * * * (e) Planned instruction aligned with academic standards in the following areas shall be provided to every student every year in the primary program. Planned instruction may be provided as separate course or other interdisciplinary activity.
(1) Language arts, integrating reading, writing, phonics, spelling, listening, speaking, literature and grammar, and information management, including library skills.
(2) Mathematics, including problem-solving and computation skills.
(3) Science, environment and ecology, involving active learning experiences for students.
(4) Technology and engineering education, involving active learning experiences for students.
* * * * * (f) Planned instruction in the following areas shall be provided to every student every year in the intermediate level program. Planned instruction may be provided as a separate course or as an instructional unit within another course or other interdisciplinary instructional activity:
(1) Language arts, integrating reading, writing, spelling, listening, speaking, literature and grammar.
(2) Mathematics, including problem-solving and computation skills.
(3) Science, environment and ecology, including instruction about agriculture and agricultural science.
(4) Technology and engineering.
(5) Social studies (civics and government, economics, geography and history).
* * * * * § 4.22. Middle level education.
* * * * * (c) Planned instruction aligned with academic standards in the following areas shall be provided to every student in the middle level program. Planned instruction may be provided as a separate course or as an instructional unit within a course or other interdisciplinary instructional activity:
(1) Language arts, integrating reading, writing, listening, speaking, literature and grammar.
(2) Mathematics, including mathematical reasoning, algebra and problem-solving.
(3) Science, environment and ecology, which involves active learning experiences and which may include laboratory experiments, instruction in agriculture and agricultural science, and political and economic aspects of ecology.
(4) Social studies (civics and government, economics, geography and history, including the history and cultures of the United States, the Commonwealth, and the world).
(5) Technology and engineering.
(6) Information skills, including access to traditional and electronic information sources, computer use and research.
(7) Health, safety and physical education, including instruction in concepts and skills which affect personal, family and community health and safety, nutrition, physical fitness, movement concepts, motor skill development, safety in physical activity settings, and the prevention of alcohol, chemical and tobacco abuse.
(8) The arts, including art, music, dance and theatre.
(9) Career education, including exposure to various career options and the educational preparation necessary to achieve those options.
(10) Technology education, emphasizing practical application of academic skills and problem-solving experiences facilitated by technology.
(11) Family and consumer science, including principles of consumer behavior and basic knowledge of child health and child care skills.
(d) This section does not preclude the teaching of other planned instruction designed to achieve a school entity's academic standards.
(e) School entities shall determine the most appropriate way to operate their middle level programs to achieve the purposes under subsection (b) and any additional academic standards as determined by the school entity.
§ 4.23. High school education.
* * * * * (c) Planned instruction aligned with academic standards in the following areas shall be provided to every student in the high school program. Planned instruction may be provided as a separate course or as an instructional unit within a course or other interdisciplinary instructional activity:
(1) Language arts, integrating reading, writing, listening, speaking, literature and grammar.
(2) Mathematics, including problem-solving, mathematical reasoning, algebra, geometry and concepts of calculus.
(3) Science, environment and ecology, including scientific, social, political and economic aspects of ecology, participation in hands-on experiments and at least one laboratory science chosen from life sciences, earth and space sciences, chemical sciences, physical sciences and agricultural sciences.
(4) Social studies (civics and government, economics, geography and history, including the history and cultures of the United States, the Commonwealth and the world).
(5) Technology and engineering.
(6) The arts, including art, music, dance, theatre and humanities.
(7) Use of applications of microcomputers and software, including word processing, database, spreadsheets and telecommunications; and information skills, including access to traditional and electronic information sources, computer use and research.
(8) Health, safety and physical education, including instruction in concepts and skills which affect personal, family and community health and safety, nutrition, physical fitness, movement concepts, motor skill development, safety in physical activity settings, and the prevention of alcohol, chemical and tobacco abuse.
(9) Family and consumer science, including principles of consumer behavior and basic knowledge of child health, child care and early literacy skill development.
(d) The following planned instruction shall be made available to every student in the high school program:
(1) Career and technical education under §§ 4.3 and 4.31—4.35.
(2) Business education, including courses to assist students in developing business and information technology skills.
(3) World languages under § 4.25 (relating to languages).
(4) Technology education, incorporating technological problem-solving and the impacts of technology on individuals and society.
(e) College-level advanced placement courses may be offered as planned instruction in the high school curriculum.
(f) This section does not preclude the teaching of other planned instruction designed to achieve a school district's, including a charter school's, academic standards.
(g) School districts, including a charter school, shall determine the most appropriate way to operate their high school programs to achieve the purposes under subsection (a) and any additional academic standards as determined by the school entity.
§ 4.24. High school graduation requirements.
(a) Approval. High school graduation requirements and revisions to them shall be approved by a school entity's governing board no later than the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, and a copy of the requirements shall be published and distributed to students, parents and guardians. Copies of the requirements also shall be available in each school building or on each school entity's publicly accessible web site. Changes to high school graduation requirements shall be published and distributed to students, parents and guardians and made available in each school building or on each school entity's publicly accessible web site immediately following approval by the governing board.
(b) Requirements through the 2021-2022 school year. Each school district, charter school (including a cyber charter school) and ACTS, if applicable, shall specify requirements for graduation. Requirements through the 2021-2022 school year must include course completion and grades, completion of a culminating project, results of local assessments aligned with the academic standards and a demonstration of proficiency in English Language Arts and Mathematics on either the State assessments administered in grade 11 or 12 or local assessments aligned with academic standards and State assessments under § 4.52 (relating to local assessment system) at the proficient level or better to graduate. The purpose of the culminating project is to assure that students are able to apply, analyze, synthesize and evaluate information and communicate significant knowledge and understanding.
(c) Requirements beginning in the 2022-2023 school year.
(1) General. Beginning in the 2022-2023 school year, each school district, charter school (including a cyber charter school) and ACTS, if applicable, shall adopt and implement requirements for high school graduation that, at minimum, include:
(i) Course completion and grades.
(ii) Demonstration of proficiency as determined by the school district, charter school (including a cyber charter school) or ACTS, if applicable, in each of the State academic standards not assessed by a State assessment under § 4.51, § 4.51a or § 4.51b (relating to State assessment system; Pennsylvania System of School Assessment; and Keystone Exams).
(iii) Demonstration of proficiency or above in each of the following State academic standards: English Language Arts and Mathematics (Appendix A-2); through June 30, 2025, Science and Technology and Environment and Ecology (Appendix B), and, beginning July 1, 2025, Science, Environment and Ecology (Appendix B-1), as determined through any one or a combination of the following:
(A) Completion of secondary level coursework in English Language Arts (Literature), Algebra I and Biology in which a student demonstrates proficiency on the associated Keystone Exam or through a pathway established in section 121(c) or (c.1) of the School Code (24 P.S. §§ 1-121(c) or (c.1)).
(I) A school district, ACTS or charter school, including a cyber charter school, shall allow a student to take a Keystone Exam prior to taking the course associated with the exam's content provided that the student achieved a score of advanced on the most recent associated PSSA assessment administered to the student.
(II) A school district, ACTS or charter school, including a cyber charter school, shall allow a student who transfers from another state to take a Keystone Exam prior to taking the course associated with the exam's content, provided that the student achieved a score comparable to the PSSA's advanced performance level on a comparable assessment administered by another state.
(III) A school district, ACTS or charter school, including a cyber charter school, may allow a student who scores at the advanced level on a particular Keystone Exam prior to taking the course to be granted course credit for the course without having to complete the course.
(B) Locally approved and administered assessments, which shall be independently and objectively validated once every 6 years. Local assessments may be designed to include a variety of assessment strategies listed in § 4.52(c) and may include the use of one or more Keystone Exams. Except for replacement of individual test items that have a similar level of difficulty, a new validation is required for any material changes to the assessment. Validated local assessments must meet the following standards:
(I) Alignment with the following State academic standards: English Language Arts (Literature and Composition); Mathematics (Algebra I), and Science and Environment and Ecology (Biology).
(II) Performance level expectations and descriptors that describe the level of performance required to achieve proficiency comparable to that used for the Keystone Exams.
(III) Administration of the local assessment to all students, as a requirement for graduation, except for those exempted by their individualized education program under subsection (d), regarding special education students, or gifted individualized education plan as provided in § 16.32 (relating to GIEP).
(IV) Subject to appropriations provided by law, the cost to validate local assessments shall be evenly divided between the school district, ACTS or charter school, including a cyber charter school, and the Department. If the Department does not provide sufficient funding to meet its share, local assessments submitted for validation shall be deemed valid until a new validation is due to the Department.
(V) The Department will establish a list of entities approved to perform independent validations of local assessments in consultation with the Local Assessment Validation Advisory Committee as provided in § 4.52(f).
(VI) School boards shall only approve assessments that have been determined to meet the requirements of this subsection by an approved entity performing the independent validation. If a school district, ACTS or charter school, including a cyber charter school, uses a local assessment that has not been independently validated, the Secretary will direct the school entity to discontinue its use until the local assessment is approved through independent validation by an approved entity.
(d) Special education students. Children with disabilities who satisfactorily complete a special education program developed by an Individualized Education Program team under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and this part shall be granted and issued a regular high school diploma by the school district of residence, charter school (including cyber charter school) or ACTS, if applicable. This subsection applies if the special education program of a child with a disability does not otherwise meet the requirements of this chapter.
(e) Demonstration of proficiency. For purposes of this section, a student shall be deemed proficient in the State-assessed standards whenever the student demonstrates proficiency through any of the options in subsection (c)(1)(iii), regardless of the student's grade level or age.
(f) Transcripts. The performance level demonstrated by a student in each of the state academic standards, including the highest performance level demonstrated by a student on the associated Keystone Exam, may be included on a student's transcript as determined by each school entity.
(g) Release of scores. This section does not allow for the release of individual student PSSA or Keystone Exam scores to the Department or other Commonwealth entities in accordance with § 4.51(f) and (g).
(h) Supplemental instruction. A student who does not demonstrate proficiency on a Keystone Exam or a locally validated assessment specified in subsection (c) may be offered supplemental instructional support by the student's school district, ACTS or charter school, including a cyber charter school consistent with section 121(c.4) of the School Code.
(i) Out-of-state transfers. A school district, ACTS or charter school, including a cyber charter school, shall determine whether a student who transfers from an out-of-State school having demonstrated proficiency in coursework and assessments aligned with the academic standards assessed by each Keystone Exam may satisfy the requirements of subsection (c).
(j) Waiver of testing and accountability requirements. In any year in which the Federal government has waived the testing and accountability requirements of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (20 U.S.C.A. §§ 6301—7981), a student shall not be required to take a Keystone Exam for the purpose established in this section and shall be deemed proficient for purposes of this section by meeting the requirements set forth in section 121.1 of the School Code (24 P.S. § 1-121.1).
* * * * *
CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION § 4.31. Career and technical education.
(a) Career and technical education courses shall be developed in the planned instruction format and be accessible to all high school students attending those grades in which career and technical education courses are offered. All students and their parents or guardians shall be informed of the students' rights to participate in career and technical education programs and courses and that students with disabilities enrolled in the programs are entitled to services under Chapter 14 (relating to special education services and programs). Students who complete approved career and technical education programs shall have their occupational competency assessed by completion of the appropriate assessment under the Pennsylvania Skills Certificate Program or by completion of another occupational competency assessment approved by the Department. A student with a disability shall be provided appropriate accommodations when provided for in the student's individualized education program. Students shall also demonstrate proficiency in meeting academic standards as required under § 4.24 (relating to high school graduation requirements), including § 4.12(f) (relating to academic standards) and § 4.24(d) for students with disabilities with an individualized education program.
(b) Career and technical education courses may be taught at ACTSs or other high schools.
(c) Career and technical education programs must consist of a series of planned academic and career and technical education courses that are articulated with one another so that knowledge and skills are taught in a systematic manner. When appropriate, career and technical education programs must adopt, in program areas for which they are available, industry recognized skills standards and may also include cooperative career and technical education and participation in career and technical student organizations to develop leadership skills.
(d) Career and technical education courses must include content based upon occupational analysis, clearly stated performance objectives deemed critical to successful employment and assessment of student competencies based upon performance standards.
(e) The record of a student enrolled in a career and technical education program must include the student's educational and occupational objectives and the results of the assessment of student competencies under subsection (d).
(f) Safety education, consisting of safety practices, accident prevention, occupational health habits and environmental concerns shall be integrated into the instruction and practices in career and technical education programs.
(g) School districts and ACTSs administering career and technical education programs shall develop written policies regarding admissions. Course announcements, guidance materials and other communications must convey the philosophy of equal access to students considering enrolling in ACTSs and include a description of admissions policies. The policies must assure that when admissions to ACTSs must be limited, the admissions shall be on a nondiscriminatory basis.
§ 4.32. Standards and reports.
(a) The Secretary is responsible for the promulgation of standards appropriate for implementing § 4.31 (relating to career and technical education). Present standards, to the extent that they are inconsistent, are superseded by this chapter.
(b) The Secretary will report annually to the Board on the status of career and technical education programs, including tech-prep and apprenticeship programs. Reports will include numbers and types of programs, numbers of students, post-program status of students, Statewide competency standards and assessment information.
§ 4.33. Advisory committees.
(a) A school district or ACTS administering or planning to administer career and technical education programs shall appoint a local advisory committee. Membership on the committee shall consist of business and industry representatives, public sector employers, agriculture, labor organizations, community organizations, postsecondary education institutions and the general public. The appointed advisory committee shall meet at least once each year and give advice to the board and the administration concerning the program of the school, including its general philosophy, academic and other standards, course offerings, support services, safety requirements and the skill needs of employers. An advisory committee may serve multiple institutions where employment areas overlap.
(b) An administrative committee, composed of chief school administrators representing participating school districts, shall be included in the organization of each ACTS. The committee shall advise the ACTS board and the administration concerning the educational program and policies of the school.
(c) An occupational advisory committee shall be established for each career and technical education program or cluster of related programs offered by a school district or ACTS. The committee shall be appointed by the board of directors, and a majority of the members of the committee shall be employees and employers in the occupation for which training is provided. The committee shall meet at least twice each year to advise the board, administration and staff on curriculum, equipment, instructional materials, safety requirements, program evaluation and other related matters and to verify that the programs meet industry standards and, if appropriate, licensing board criteria and that they prepare students with occupation related competencies.
§ 4.34. Programs and equipment.
(a) A satellite career and technical education program may be operated by an ACTS board in conformity with a memorandum of understanding adopted with the participating school district's board of school directors.
(b) Certified guidance personnel in each secondary school and ACTS shall be assigned responsibility to provide pupils with career and technical education guidance services.
(c) Equipment will be deemed appropriate if it is compatible, insofar as practical, to that used in occupations or households for which career and technical education is provided.
§ 4.35. ACTSs.
(a) ACTS attendance areas shall conform to the plan of the State Board of Career and Technical Education. Boards of school directors may petition the State Board of Career and Technical Education for attendance area assignment or reassignment.
(b) The following provisions apply to the establishment of ACTSs:
(1) Where more than one district constitutes an attendance area, the appropriate intermediate unit may, and upon the request of any school district shall, call for an election by the boards of school directors within the attendance area to determine if an ACTS shall be established.
(2) A school district within the attendance area may elect to participate in the establishment of the ACTS.
(3) Where a single school district constitutes an attendance area, the board of school directors of that district may establish and operate ACTSs and be considered an ACTS board.
(c) The following provisions apply to articles of agreement for the establishment and operation of ACTSs:
(1) The boards of school directors of the school districts electing to participate in the ACTS shall enter into a written agreement setting forth rights and obligations of the participating school districts.
(2) No change will be made in the articles of agreement under paragraph (1) without the consent of each participating school district by the affirmative vote of each board of school directors.
(3) No school district may withdraw from the articles of agreement under paragraph (1) without the consent of each participating school district.
ASSESSMENT § 4.51. State assessment system.
(a) The State assessment system shall be designed to serve the following purposes:
(1) Provide students, parents, educators and citizens with an understanding of student and school performance consistent with the Every Student Suceeds Act (Pub.L. No. 114-95).
(2) Determine the degree to which school programs enable students to attain proficiency of academic standards under § 4.12 (relating to academic standards).
(3) Provide information to State policymakers, including the General Assembly and the Board, on how effective schools are in promoting and demonstrating student proficiency of academic standards.
(4) Provide information to the general public on school performance.
(5) Provide results to school entities based upon the aggregate performance of all students, for students with an Individualized Education Program (IEP) and for those without an IEP.
(6) Assess student proficiency in the Academic Standards for English Language Arts (Appendix A-2), Mathematics (Appendix A-2), and, through June 30, 2025, Science and Technology and Environment and Ecology (Appendix B), and, beginning July 1, 2025, Science, Environment, Ecology and Technology and Engineering (Appendix B-1) for the purpose of determining, in part, a student's eligibility for high school graduation.
(b) The State assessment system must include PSSA assessments and Keystone Exams.
(c) Neither State assessments nor academic standards under § 4.12 may require students to hold or express particular attitudes, values or beliefs.
(d) The Department will make samples of State assessment questions, assessment formats and scoring guides available to the public after each administration of State assessments.
(e) To ensure that information regarding student performance is available to parents and teachers, State assessments developed under this section must include student names.
(f) Individual assessment results shall be used in planning instruction only by parents, teachers, administrators and guidance counselors with a need to know based upon local board policy on testing and in reporting academic progress.
(g) The Department and other Commonwealth entities are prohibited from collecting individual student test scores and may collect only aggregate test scores by school and district.
(h) The Board will authorize the expansion of the State assessment system through a revision of this chapter.
(1) The Board will not include National assessments as part of the State assessment system unless, upon consultation with teachers, counselors and parents representing students who have been identified under Chapter 14 (relating to special education services and programs), the Board determines the assessment is an appropriate means of assessing the academic progress of students identified under Chapter 14, or unless the General Assembly authorizes the use of a National assessment.
(2) Subject to paragraph (3), the Board will not, and the Department may not, be a governing state in any consortium for the development of a National assessment for the purpose of utilization as part of the State assessment system.
(3) The Department may continue to participate in a consortium to develop an alternate assessment to measure the academic progress of students identified under Chapter 14.
(i) The Department will implement provisions for security of the State assessment system, including the following:
(1) Action by a professional employee or commissioned officer that is willfully designed to divulge test questions, falsify student scores or in some other fashion compromise the integrity of the State assessment system as determined by the school district, ACTS or charter school, including a cyber charter school, shall be subject to disciplinary action under the Educator Discipline Act (24 P.S. §§ 2070.1a—2070.18c).
(2) Cheating by students or employees other than those covered in paragraph (1) shall be subject to disciplinary action by the school district, ACTS or charter school, including a cyber charter school.
(3) Cheating or breaches of assessment security shall be reported to the Secretary as soon as detected.
(j) The Secretary is authorized to establish guidelines for the administration of the State assessment system.
(k) The Secretary will report each September to the Board and the General Assembly information and pertinent data regarding the State assessment system. The Secretary also will provide each school entity information and pertinent data for the school entity and its students.
(l) Children with disabilities and children with limited English proficiency shall be included in the State assessment system as required by Federal law, with appropriate accommodations when necessary. As appropriate, the Commonwealth will develop guidelines for the participation of children with disabilities in alternate assessments for those children who cannot participate in the PSSA or Keystone Exams as determined by each child's individualized education program team under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and this part.
§ 4.51a. Pennsylvania System of School Assessment.
(a) All PSSA assessments administered in English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science, Environment, Ecology, Technology and Engineering will be standards-based and criterion referenced and include essay or open-ended response items in addition to other item formats. The proportion of type of items will vary by grade level. The criteria for judging performance on PSSA assessments are as follows:
(1) Performance on PSSA English Language Arts assessments shall be demonstrated by students' responses to comprehension questions about age-appropriate reading passages, by their written responses to in-depth comprehension questions about the passages and by the quality of their written compositions on a variety of topics and modes of writing.
(2) Performance on PSSA mathematics assessments shall be demonstrated by students' responses to questions about grade-appropriate content and by the quality of their responses to questions that require a written solution to a problem.
(3) Performance on PSSA science assessments shall be demonstrated by students' responses to grade appropriate content and by the quality of their responses to questions that demonstrate knowledge of each category of the standards for science, environment, ecology, technology and engineering.
(4) Performance levels shall be advanced, proficient, basic and below basic. In consultation with educators, students, parents and citizens, the Department will develop and recommend to the Board for its approval specific criteria for advanced, proficient, basic and below basic levels of performance.
(b) The Department will develop or cause to be developed PSSA assessments based on Pennsylvania Core Standards in Mathematics and English Language Arts under § 4.12 (relating to academic standards) and contained in Appendix A-2. Through June 30, 2025, the Department will develop or cause to be developed PSSA assessments based on academic standards in Science, Technology, Environment and Ecology under § 4.12 and contained in Appendix B. Beginning July 1, 2025, the Department will develop or cause to be developed PSSA assessments based on academic standards in Science, Environment, Ecology, Technology and Engineering under § 4.12 and contained in Appendix B-1. In developing PSSA assessments, the Department will consult with educators, students, parents and citizens regarding the specific methods of assessment.
(c) The PSSA assessments shall be administered annually and include assessments of the State academic standards in Mathematics and English Language Arts at grades 3 through 8, and in Science, Environment, Ecology, Technology and Engineering at grades 4 and 8.
§ 4.51b. Keystone Exams.
(a) The Department will develop or cause to be developed Keystone Exams as provided in this subsection. (This subsection is intended by the Board to be a continuation of § 4.51(f) (relating to State assessment system) as published at 40 Pa.B. 240 (January 9, 2010) and referenced in section 102 of the School Code (24 P.S. § 1-102).)
(1) One assessment aligned with the Mathematics standards, contained in Appendix A-2, that assesses the academic content traditionally included in an Algebra I course.
(2) One assessment aligned with select English Language Arts standards, contained in Appendix A-2 that assesses academic content traditionally included in a high school literature course.
(3) Through June 30, 2025, one assessment aligned with select standards for Science, Technology, Environment and Ecology, contained in Appendix B, that assesses academic content traditionally included in a high school level Biology course. Beginning July 1, 2025, one assessment aligned with select standards for Science, Environment and Ecology, contained in Appendix B-1, that assesses academic content traditionally included in a high school level Biology course.
(b) Keystone Exams shall be offered at least three times each year: once each in the fall, spring and summer.
(c) Keystone Exams shall be administered, reviewed and scored so that scores for candidates for graduation are provided to schools no later than 10 calendar days prior to graduation. A school district, ACTS or charter school, including a cyber charter school, may request the Department to approve alternative test administration and scoring time frames. The Department will publish guidelines and procedures for approving alternative test administration and scoring time frames on its web site. The guidelines will provide for approval of all requests unless the approval is contrary to standards of test validity and scoring.
(d) A student shall be permitted to retake any Keystone Exam, or Keystone Exam module, in which the student did not score proficient or above at the next available testing date. There is not a limit on the number of times a student who did not score proficient on a Keystone Exam is permitted to retake the Keystone Exam or Keystone Exam module. A student who has achieved a score of proficient or advanced on a Keystone Exam shall be permitted to retake a Keystone Exam only if the student or parent submits a request in writing to the school entity.
(e) Each Keystone Exam will be designed in modules that reflect distinct, related academic content that is common to the traditional progression of coursework to allow students who do not score proficient or above to retake those portions of the test in which they did not score proficient or above.
(f) A student taking Keystone Exams, or Keystone Exam modules, who did not score proficient on a Keystone Exam, or Keystone Exam module, may be provided supplemental instruction consistent with the student's educational program by the student's school district, ACTS or charter school, including a cyber charter school, consistent with section 121(c.4) of the School Code (24 P.S. § 1-121(c.4)).
(g) Performance levels for Keystone Exams shall be set at the advanced, proficient, basic and below basic levels. In consultation with the Performance Level Advisory Committee, the Department will develop and recommend to the Board for its approval performance level descriptors and performance level cut scores for the Keystone Exams and any alternative assessments developed to assess students with disabilities as permitted by the Every Student Suceeds Act (Pub.L. No. 114-95). The Department will use widely-accepted psychometric procedures to establish the cut scores. Cut scores shall be presented at a public meeting of the Board for its review at least 2 weeks prior to scheduled Board action on the cut scores.
(h) The Department will provide guidance to school districts, ACTSs and charter schools, including cyber charter schools, as to the appropriate accommodations school entities shall provide to students with disabilities, students who are gifted and English language learners, when appropriate.
(i) Beginning in the 2012-2013 school year, Keystone Exams in the following subjects will be developed by the Department and made available for use by school districts, ACTSs and charter schools, including cyber charter schools, for the purpose of assessing high school graduation requirements in § 4.24(c)(1)(iii) (relating to high school graduation requirements):
Algebra I
Literature
Biology
(j) The Department will seek to have the Keystone Exams approved as the high school level single accountability system under the Every Student Succeeds Act (20 U.S.C.A. §§ 6301—7981) or its successor Federal statute. If the Keystone Exams receive approval as the high school level accountability measure, school districts, ACTSs and charter schools, including cyber charter schools, shall administer the Literature, Algebra I and Biology exams as end-of-course tests in the grade level in which students complete the relevant coursework.
(k) The 11th grade PSSA exams in Reading, Writing, Math and Science shall be discontinued upon implementation of the Keystone Exams as the approved assessment system under section 1111(b)(2)(C) of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C.A. § 6311(b)(2)(C)).
(l) At least once every 5 years, the Department will contract with a qualified, independent research organization to perform a validity study of the Keystone Exams using generally accepted education research standards. These studies will determine, at a minimum, the degree to which the Keystone Exams and performance level cut scores are valid for the purposes for which they are used; aligned with State academic standards; aligned with performance levels of other states; internationally benchmarked; and predict college and career success. In addition, all Keystone Exams, performance level descriptors and cut scores will be subject to the best available forms of content, criterion and consequential validation.
(m) The Department will establish a State Assessment Validation Advisory Committee (Committee). The Committee will advise the Department on its plans to conduct the validity study and review and provide feedback on its findings.
(n) The Department and the Committee will investigate the use of a certificate based on industry approved standards and performance on an NOCTI exam as an alternative pathway to graduation and will make a report and recommendation to the Board by January 10, 2011.
§ 4.51c. Project-based assessment.
The Department will develop a project-based assessment system that is aligned with the modules for the Keystone Exams in Literature, Algebra I and Biology. School entities may utilize project-based assessments for students consistent with section 121(c.5) of the School Code (24 P.S. § 1-121(c.5)).
§ 4.51d. Waivers.
A chief school administrator, in his sole discretion, may waive the requirements in § 4.24 (relating to high school graduation requirements) consistent with section 121(c.3) of the School Code (24 P.S. § 1-121(c.3)). The following apply:
(1) The chief school administrator of each school district, ACTS and charter school, including a cyber charter school, shall annually report to the Department the number of waivers granted to students in the most recent graduating class consistent with section 121(c.11)(6) of the School Code, and the Department will annually report to the Board the number of waivers granted by each school district, ACTS and charter school, including a cyber charter school.
(2) The waiver process described in this section does not confer an individual right on any student.
(3) The decision of a chief school administrator concerning a waiver request is not an adjudication.
§ 4.52. Local assessment system.
* * * * * (e) Children with disabilities shall be included in the local assessment system, with appropriate accommodations, when necessary. As appropriate, the school district, including a charter school, including a cyber charter school, or ACTS shall develop guidelines for the participation of children with disabilities in alternate assessments for those children who cannot participate in the local assessment as determined by each child's Individualized Education Program team under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and this part.
* * * * *
APPENDIX B-1 2
Pennsylvania Integrated Standards for Science, Environment, Ecology, Technology and Engineering (Grades K—5)1 Kindergarten
Earth and Space Sciences
Earth and Human Activity
1. Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants or animals (including humans) and the places they live.
2. Ask questions to obtain information about the purpose of weather forecasting to prepare for, and respond to, severe weather.
3. Communicate solutions that will reduce the impact of humans on the land, water, air, and/or other living things in the local environment.
Earth's Systems
1. Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time.
2. Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment to meet their needs.
Life Science
From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
1. Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.
Physical Science
Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
1. Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object.
2. Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull.
Energy
1. Make observations to determine the effect of sunlight on Earth's surface.
2. Use tools and materials to design and build a structure that will reduce the warming effect of sunlight on an area.
Grade 1
Earth and Space Sciences
Earth's Place in the Universe
1. Use observations of the sun, moon, and stars to describe patterns that can be predicted.
2. Make observations at different times of year to relate the amount of daylight to the time of year.
Life Science
From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
1. Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.
2. Read texts and use media to determine patterns in behavior of parents and offspring that help offspring survive.
Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits
1. Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents.
Physical Science
Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer
1. Plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate.
2. Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that objects can be seen only when illuminated.
3. Plan and conduct an investigation to determine the effect of placing objects made with different materials in the path of a beam of light.
4. Use tools and materials to design and build a device that uses light or sound to solve the problem of communicating over a distance.
Grade 2
Earth and Space Sciences
Earth's Place in the Universe
1. Use information from several sources to provide evidence that Earth events can occur quickly or slowly.
Earth's Systems
1. Compare multiple solutions designed to slow or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the land.
2. Develop a model to represent the shapes and kinds of land and bodies of water in an area.
3. Obtain information to identify where water is found on Earth and that it can be solid or liquid.
Life Science
Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
1. Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.
2. Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.
Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
1. Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.
Matter and its Interactions
1. Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties.
2. Analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose.
3. Make observations to construct an evidence-based account of how an object made of a small set of pieces can be disassembled and made into a new object.
4. Construct an argument with evidence that some changes caused by heating or cooling can be reversed and some cannot.
Grade 3
Earth and Space Sciences
Earth's Systems
1. Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.
2. Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.
Earth and Human Activity
1. Make a claim supported by evidence about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of a weather-related hazard.
Life Science
From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
1. Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.
Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
1. Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members survive.
Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits
1. Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exists in a group of similar organisms.
2. Use evidence to support the explanation that traits can be influenced by the environment.
Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
1. Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.
2. Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in characteristics among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing.
3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
4. Make a claim supported by evidence about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.
Physical Science
Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
1. Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.
2. Make and communicate observations and/or measurements of an object's motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.
3. Ask questions to determine cause and effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions between two objects not in contact with each other.
4. Define a simple design problem that can be solved by applying scientific ideas about magnets.
Grade 4
Earth and Space Sciences
Earth's Place in the Universe
1. Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.
Earth's Systems
1. Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.
2. Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth's features.
Earth and Human Activity
1. Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and their uses affect the environment.
2. Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.
Life Science
From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
1. Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
2. Use a model to describe that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways.
Physical Science
Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer
1. Develop a model of waves to describe patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength and that waves can cause objects to move.
2. Develop a model to describe that light reflecting from objects and entering the eye allows objects to be seen.
3. Generate and compare multiple solutions that use patterns to transfer information.
Energy
1. Use evidence to construct an explanation relating the speed of an object to the energy of that object.
2. Make and communicate observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.
3. Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy that occur when objects collide.
4. Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.
Grade 5
Earth and Space Sciences
Earth's Place in the Universe
1. Support an argument that differences in the apparent brightness of the sun compared to other stars is due to their relative distances from Earth.
2. Represent data in graphical displays to reveal patterns of daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of some stars in the night sky.
Earth's Systems
1. Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
2. Describe and graph the amounts and percentages of water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth.
Earth and Human Activity
1. Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth's resources and environment.
2. Generate and design possible solutions to a current environmental issue, threat, or concern.
Life Science
From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
1. Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water.
Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
1. Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
Physical Science
Matter and Its Interactions
1. Develop a model to describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen.
2. Measure and graph quantities to provide evidence that regardless of the type of change that occurs when heating, cooling, or mixing substances, the total weight of matter is conserved.
3. Make and communicate observations and measurements to identify materials based on their properties.
4. Conduct an investigation to determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances.
5. Interpret and analyze data to make decisions about how to utilize materials based on their properties.
Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
1. Support an argument that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed down.
Energy
1. Use models to describe that energy in animals' food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.
Standards by Grade Band
Grades K—2: Environmental Literacy and Sustainability
Agricultural and Environmental Systems and Resources
1. Examine how people from different cultures and communities, including one's own, interact and express their beliefs about nature.
2. Categorize ways people harvest, re-distribute, and use natural resources.
Environmental Literacy Skills
1. Explain ways that places differ in their physical characteristics, their meaning, and their value and/or importance.
2. Plan and carry out an investigation to address an issue in their local environment and community.
Grades K—2: Technology and Engineering
Applying, Maintaining, and Assessing Technological Products and Systems
1. Analyze how things work.
2. Identify and use everyday symbols.
3. Describe qualities of everyday products.
Core Concepts of Technology and Engineering
1. Illustrate how systems have parts or components that work together to accomplish a goal.
2. Safely use tools to complete tasks.
3. Explain that materials are selected for use because they possess desirable properties and characteristics.
4. Develop a plan in order to complete a task.
5. Collaborate effectively as a member of a team.
Design in Technology and Engineering Education
1. Apply design concepts, principles, and processes through play and exploration.
2. Demonstrate that designs have requirements.
3. Explain that design is a response to wants and needs.
4. Discuss that all designs have different characteristics that can be described.
5. Illustrate that there are different solutions to a design and that none are perfect.
6. Demonstrate essential skills of the engineering design process.
7. Apply skills necessary for making a design.
History of Technology
1. Discuss how the way people live and work has changed throughout history because of technology.
Impacts of Technology
1. Explain ways that technology helps with everyday tasks.
2. Illustrate helpful and harmful effects of technology.
3. Compare simple technologies to evaluate their impacts.
4. Select ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle resources in daily life.
5. Design new technologies that could improve their daily lives.
Influence of Society on Technological Development
1. Explain the needs and wants of individuals and societies.
2. Explore how technologies are developed to meet individual and societal needs and wants.
3. Investigate the use of technologies in the home and community.
Integration of Knowledge, Technologies, and Practices
1. Apply concepts and skills from technology and engineering activities that reinforce concepts and skills across multiple content areas.
2. Draw connections between technology and human experiences.
Nature and Characteristics of Technology and Engineering
1. Compare the natural world and human-made world.
2. Explain the tools and techniques that people use to help them do things.
3. Demonstrate that creating can be done by anyone.
4. Discuss the roles of scientists, engineers, technologists and others who work with technology.
Grades 3—5: Environmental Literacy and Sustainability
Agricultural and Environmental Systems and Resources
1. Analyze how living organisms, including humans, affect the environment in which they live, and how their environment affects them.
2. Make a claim about the environmental and social impacts of design solutions and civic actions, including their own actions.
Environmental Literacy Skills
1. Investigate how perspectives over the use of resources and the development of technology have changed over time and resulted in conflict over the development of societies and nations.
2. Develop a model to demonstrate how local environmental issues are connected to larger local environment and human systems.
Sustainability and Stewardship
1. Critique ways that people depend on and change the environment.
2. Examine ways you influence your local environment and community by collecting and displaying data.
3. Construct an argument to support whether action is needed on a selected environmental issue and propose possible solutions.
Grades 3—5: Technology and Engineering
Applying, Maintaining, and Assessing Technological Products and Systems
1. Follow directions to complete a technological task.
2. Use appropriate symbols, numbers and words to communicate key ideas about technological products and systems.
3. Identify why a product or system is not working properly.
4. Examine information to assess the trade-offs of using a product or system.
Core Concepts of Technology and Engineering
1. Describe how a subsystem is a system that operates as a part of another larger system.
2. Illustrate how, when parts of a system are missing, it may not work as planned.
3. Identify the resources needed to get a technical job done, such as people, materials, capital, tools, machines, knowledge, energy, and time.
4. Describe the properties of different materials.
5. Demonstrate how tools and machines extend human capabilities, such as holding, lifting, carrying, fastening, separating, and computing.
6. Describe requirements of designing or making a product or system.
7. Create a new product that improves someone's life.
Design in Technology and Engineering Education
1. Illustrate that there are multiple approaches to design.
2. Demonstrate essential skills of the engineering design process.
3. Evaluate designs based on criteria, constraints, and standards.
4. Interpret how good design improves the human condition.
5. Apply universal principles and elements of design.
6. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of existing design solutions, including their own solutions.
7. Practice successful design skills.
8. Apply tools, techniques, and materials in a safe manner as part of the design process.
History of Technology
1. Create representations of the tools people made, how they cultivated to provide food, made clothing, and built shelters to protect themselves.
Impacts of Technology
1. Describe the helpful and harmful effects of technology.
2. Judge technologies to determine the best one to use to complete a given task or meet a need.
3. Classify resources used to create technologies as either renewable or nonrenewable.
4. Explain why responsible use of technology requires sustainable management of resources.
5. Predict how certain aspects of their daily lives would be different without given technologies.
Influence of Society on Technological Development
1. Determine factors that influence changes in a society's technological systems or infrastructure.
2. Explain how technologies are developed or adapted when individual or societal needs and wants change.
Integration of Knowledge, Technologies, and Practices
1. Demonstrate how simple technologies are often combined to form more complex systems.
2. Explain how various relationships can exist between technology and engineering and other content areas.
Nature and Characteristics of Technology and Engineering
1. Compare how things found in nature differ from things that are human-made, noting differences and similarities in how they are produced and used.
2. Describe the unique relationship between science and technology, and how the natural world can contribute to the human-made world to foster innovation.
3. Differentiate between the role of scientists, engineers, technologists, and others in creating and maintaining technological systems.
4. Design solutions by safely using tools, materials, and skills.
5. Explain how solutions to problems are shaped by economic, political, and cultural forces.
Pennsylvania Integrated Standards for Science, Environment and Ecology (Grades 6—12) Standards for Grades 6—83 4
Physical Science
Structure and Properties of Matter
1. Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures.
2. Gather and make sense of information to describe how synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society.
3. Develop a model that predicts and describes changes in the particle motion, temperature and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed.
Chemical Reactions
1. Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred.
2. Develop and use a model to describe how the total number of atoms does not change in a chemical reaction and thus mass is conserved.
3. Undertake a design project to construct, test, and modify a device that either releases or absorbs thermal energy by chemical processes.*
Forces and Interactions
1. Apply Newton's Third Law to design a solution to a problem involving the motion of two colliding objects.*
2. Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object's motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object.
3. Ask questions about data to determine the factors that affect the strength of electric and magnetic forces.
4. Construct and present arguments using evidence to support the claim that gravitational interactions are attractive and depend on the masses of interacting objects.
5. Conduct an investigation and evaluate the experimental design to provide evidence that fields exist between objects exerting forces on each other even though the objects are not in contact.
Energy
1. Construct and interpret graphical displays of data to describe the relationships of kinetic energy to the mass and speed of an object.
2. Develop a model to describe that when the arrangement of objects interacting at a distance changes, different amounts of potential energy are stored in the system.
3. Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer.*
4. Plan an investigation to determine the relationships among the energy transferred, the type of matter, the mass, and the change in the average kinetic energy of the particles as measured by the temperature of the sample.
5. Construct, use, and present arguments to support the claim that when the kinetic energy of an object changes, energy is transferred to or from the object.
Waves and Electromagnetic Radiation
1. Use mathematical representations to describe a simple model for waves that includes how the amplitude of a wave is related to the energy in a wave.
2. Develop and use a model to describe how waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.
3. Integrate qualitative scientific and technical information to support the claim that digitized signals are a more reliable way to encode and transmit information than analog signals.
Life Science
Structure, Function, and Information Processing
1. Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells, either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells.
2. Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and the ways that parts of cells contribute to the function.
3. Use arguments supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.
4. Gather and synthesize information about how sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories.
Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems
1. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms.
2. Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism.
3. Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
4. Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
5. Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
1. Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.
2. Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.*
Growth, Development, and Reproduction of Organisms
1. Use arguments based on empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support an explanation for how characteristic animal behaviors and specialized plant structures affect the probability of successful reproduction of animals and plants, respectively.
2. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms.
3. Develop and use a model to describe why structural changes to genes (mutations) located on chromosomes may affect proteins and may result in harmful, beneficial, or neutral effects to the structure and function of the organism.
4. Develop and use a model to describe why asexual reproduction results in offspring with identical genetic information and sexual reproduction results in offspring with genetic variation.
5. Gather and synthesize information about the technologies that have changed the way humans influence the inheritance of desired traits in organisms.
Natural Selection and Adaptations
1. Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past.
2. Apply scientific ideas to construct an explanation for anatomical similarities and differences among modern organisms and between modern and fossil organisms to infer evolutionary relationships.
3. Analyze displays of pictorial data to compare patterns of similarities in anatomical structures across multiple species to identify relationships not evident in the fully formed anatomy.
4. Construct an explanation based on evidence that describes how genetic variations of traits in a population increase some individuals' probability of surviving and reproducing in a specific environment.
5. Use mathematical representations to support explanations of how natural selection may lead to increases and decreases of specific traits in populations over time.
Earth and Space Science
Space Systems
1. Develop and use a model of the Earth-sun-moon system to describe the cyclic patterns of lunar phases, eclipses of the sun and moon, and seasons.
2. Develop and use a model to describe the role of gravity in the motion within galaxies and the solar system.
3. Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system.
History of Earth
1. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth's 4.6-billion-year-old history.
2. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth's surface at varying time and spatial scales.
3. Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of past plate motions.
Earth's Systems
1. Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth's materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.
2. Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth's systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.
3. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth's mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.
Weather and Climate
1. Collect data to provide evidence for how the motion and complex interactions of air masses result in changes in weather conditions.
2. Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.
3. Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
Human Impacts
1. Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.
2. Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing human impact on the environment.*
3. Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.
Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science
Engineering Design (Define Problems, Develop Solutions and Improve Designs)
1. Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
2. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
3. Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.
4. Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.
Environmental Literacy and Sustainability
Agricultural and Environmental Systems and Resources
Agricultural Systems
1. Develop a model to describe how agricultural and food systems function, including the sustainable use of natural resources and the production, processing, and management of food, fiber, and energy.
Environment and Society
1. Analyze and interpret data about how different societies (economic and social systems) and cultures use and manage natural resources differently.
Watersheds and Wetlands
1. Develop a model to describe how watersheds and wetlands function as systems, including the roles and functions they serve.
Environmental Literacy Skills
Investigating Environmental Issues
1. Gather, read, and synthesize information from multiple sources to investigate how Pennsylvania environmental issues affect Pennsylvania's human and natural systems.
Environmental Experiences
1. Collect, analyze, and interpret environmental data to describe a local environment.
Evaluating Solutions
1. Obtain and communicate information on how integrated pest management could improve indoor and outdoor environments.
Sustainability and Stewardship
Environmental Sustainability
1. Obtain and communicate information to describe how best management practices and environmental laws are designed to achieve environmental sustainability.
Environmental Stewardship
1. Design a solution to an environmental issue in which individuals and societies can engage as stewards of the environment.
Environmental Justice
1. Construct an explanation that describes regional environmental conditions and their implications on environmental justice and social equity.
6
Standards for Grades 9—125 Physical Science
Structure and Properties of Matter
1. Use the periodic table as a model to predict the relative properties of elements based on the patterns of electrons in the outermost energy level of atoms.
2. Plan and conduct an investigation to gather evidence to compare the structure of substances at the bulk scale to infer the strength of electrical forces between particles.
3. Develop models to illustrate the changes in the composition of the nucleus of the atom and the energy released during the processes of fission, fusion, and radioactive decay.
4. Communicate scientific and technical information about why the molecular-level structure is important in the functioning of designed materials.*
Chemical Reactions
1. Construct and revise an explanation for the outcome of a simple chemical reaction based on the outermost electron states of atoms, trends in the periodic table, and knowledge of the patterns of chemical properties.
2. Develop a model to illustrate that the release or absorption of energy from a chemical reaction system depends upon the changes in total bond energy.
3. Apply scientific principles and evidence to provide an explanation about the effects of changing the temperature or concentration of the reacting particles on the rate at which a reaction occurs.
4. Refine the design of a chemical system by specifying a change in conditions that would produce increased amounts of products at equilibrium.*
5. Use mathematical representations to support the claim that atoms, and therefore mass, are conserved during a chemical reaction.
Forces and Interactions
1. Analyze data to support the claim that Newton's second law of motion describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its mass, and its acceleration.
2. Use mathematical representations to support the claim that the total momentum of a system of objects is conserved when there is no net force on the system.
3. Apply scientific and engineering ideas to design, evaluate and refine a device that minimizes the force on a macroscopic object during a collision.*
4. Use mathematical representations of Newton's Law of Gravitation and Coulomb's Law to describe and predict the gravitational and electrostatic forces between objects.
5. Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that an electric current can produce a magnetic field and that a changing magnetic field can produce an electric current.
Energy
1. Create a computational model to calculate the change in the energy of one component in a system when the change in energy of the other component(s) and energy flows in and out of the system are known.
2. Develop and use models to illustrate that energy at the macroscopic scale can be accounted for as a combination of energy associated with the motions of particles (objects) and energy associated with the relative positions of particles (objects).
3. Design, build and refine a device that works within given constraints to convert one form of energy into another form of energy.*
4. Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that the transfer of thermal energy when two components of different temperature are combined within a closed system results in a more uniform energy distribution among the components in the system (second law of thermodynamics).
5. Develop and use a model of two objects interacting through electric or magnetic fields to illustrate the forces between objects and the changes in energy of the objects due to the interaction.
Waves and Electromagnetic Radiation
1. Use mathematical representations to support a claim regarding relationships among the frequency, wavelength, and speed of waves traveling in various media.
2. Evaluate questions about the advantages of using digital transmission and storage of information.
3. Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning behind the idea that electromagnetic radiation can be described either by a wave model or a particle model and that for some situations one model is more useful than the other.
4. Evaluate the validity and reliability of claims in published materials of the effects that different frequencies of electromagnetic radiation have when absorbed by matter.
5. Communicate technical information about how some technological devices use the principles of wave behavior and wave interactions with matter to transmit and capture information and energy.*
Life Science
Structure and Function
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. Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms.
3. Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that feedback mechanisms maintain homeostasis.
Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems
1. Use a model to illustrate how photosynthesis transforms light energy into stored chemical energy.
2. Construct and revise an explanation based on evidence for how carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen from sugar molecules may combine with other elements to form amino acids and/or other large carbon-based molecules.
3. Use a model to illustrate that cellular respiration is a chemical process whereby the bonds of food molecules and oxygen molecules are broken and the bonds in new compounds are formed resulting in a net transfer of energy.
4. Construct and revise an explanation based on evidence for the cycling of matter and flow of energy in aerobic and anaerobic conditions.
5. Use mathematical representations to support claims for the cycling of matter and flow of energy among organisms in an ecosystem.
6. Develop a model to illustrate the role of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the cycling of carbon among the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere.
Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
1. Use mathematical and/or computational representations to support explanations of factors that affect carrying capacity of ecosystems at different scales.
2. Use mathematical representations to support and revise explanations based on evidence about factors affecting biodiversity and populations in ecosystems of different scales.
3. 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.
4. Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.*
5. Evaluate the evidence for the role of group behavior on individual and species' chances to survive and reproduce.
6. Create or revise a simulation to test a solution to mitigate the adverse impacts of human activity on biodiversity.*
Inheritance and Variation of Traits
1. Use a model to illustrate the role of cellular division (mitosis) and differentiation in producing and maintaining complex organisms.
2. Ask questions to clarify relationships about the role of DNA and chromosomes in coding the instructions for characteristic traits passed from parents to offspring.
3. Make and defend a claim based on evidence that inheritable genetic variations may result from (1) new genetic combinations through meiosis, (2) viable errors occurring during replication, and/or (3) mutations caused by environmental factors.
4. Apply concepts of statistics and probability to explain the variation and distribution of expressed traits in a population.
Natural Selection and Evolution
1. Communicate scientific information that common ancestry and biological evolution are supported by multiple lines of empirical evidence.
2. Construct an explanation based on evidence that the process of evolution primarily results from four factors: (1) the potential for a species to increase in number, (2) the heritable genetic variation of individuals in a species due to mutation and sexual reproduction, (3) competition for limited resources, and (4) the proliferation of those organisms that are better able to survive and reproduce in the environment.
3. Apply concepts of statistics and probability to support explanations that organisms with an advantageous heritable trait tend to increase in proportion to organisms lacking this trait.
4. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural selection leads to adaptation of populations.
5. Evaluate the evidence supporting claims that changes in environmental conditions may result in (1) increases in the number of individuals of some species, (2) the emergence of new species over time, and (3) the extinction of other species.
Earth and Space Science
Space Systems
1. Develop a model based on evidence to illustrate the life span of the sun and the role of nuclear fusion in the sun's core to release energy in the form of radiation.
2. Construct an explanation of the Big Bang theory based on astronomical evidence of light spectra, the motion of distant galaxies, and the composition of matter in the universe.
3. Communicate scientific ideas about the way stars, over their life cycle, produce elements.
4. Use mathematical or computational representations to predict the motion of orbiting objects in the solar system.
History of Earth
1. Evaluate evidence of the past and current movements of continental and oceanic crust and the theory of plate tectonics to explain the ages of crustal rocks.
2. Apply scientific reasoning and evidence from ancient Earth materials, meteorites, and other planetary surfaces to construct an account of Earth's formation and early history.
3. Develop a model to illustrate how Earth's internal and surface processes operate at different spatial and temporal scales to form continental and ocean-floor features.
Earth's Systems
1. Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth's surface can create feedback that causes changes to other Earth systems.
2. Develop a model based on evidence of Earth's interior to describe the cycling of matter by thermal convection.
3. Plan and conduct an investigation of the properties of water and its effects on Earth materials and surface processes.
4. Develop a quantitative model to describe the cycling of carbon among the hydrosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, and biosphere.
5. Construct an argument based on evidence about the simultaneous coevolution of Earth's systems and life on Earth.
Weather and Climate
1. Use a model to describe how variations in the flow of energy into and out of Earth's systems result in changes in climate.
2. Analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth systems.
Human Sustainability
1. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have influenced human activity.
2. Evaluate competing design solutions for developing, managing, and utilizing energy and mineral resources based on cost-benefit ratios.*
3. Create a computational simulation to illustrate the relationships among management of natural resources, the sustainability of human populations, and biodiversity.
4. Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces the impact of human activities on natural systems.*
5. Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity.
Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science
Engineering Design (Define Problems, Develop Solutions and Improve Designs)
1. Analyze a major global challenge to specify qualitative and quantitative criteria and constraints for solutions that account for societal needs and wants.
2. Design a solution to a complex real-world problem by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable problems that can be solved through engineering.
3. Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
4. Use a computer simulation to model the impact of proposed solutions to a complex real-world problem with numerous criteria and constraints on interactions within and between systems relevant to the problem.
Environmental Literacy and Sustainability
Agricultural and Environmental Systems and Resources
Agricultural Systems
1. Analyze and interpret how issues, trends, technologies, and policies impact agricultural, food, and environmental systems and resources.
Environment and Society
1. Apply research and analytical skills to evaluate the conditions and motivations that lead to conflict, cooperation, and change among individuals, groups, and nations.
Watersheds and Wetlands
1. Analyze and interpret how issues, trends, technologies, and policies impact watersheds and water resources.
Environmental Literacy Skills
Investigating Environmental Issues
1. Apply research and analytical skills to systematically investigate environmental issues ranging from local issues to those that are regional or global in scope.
Environmental Experiences
1. Plan and conduct an investigation utilizing environmental data about a local environmental issue.
Evaluating Solutions
1. Evaluate and communicate the effect of integrated pest management practices on indoor and outdoor environments.
Sustainability and Stewardship
Environmental Sustainability
1. Analyze and evaluate how best management practices and environmental laws achieve sustainability of natural resources.
Environmental Stewardship
1. Design and evaluate solutions in which individuals and societies can promote stewardship in environmental quality and community well-being.
Environmental Justice
1. Analyze and interpret data on a regional environmental condition and its implications on environmental justice and social equity.
Technology and Engineering Academic Standards7
Grades 6—8
Nature and Characteristics of Technology and Engineering
1. Consider historical factors that have contributed to the development of technologies and human progress.
2. Engage in a research and development process to simulate how inventions and innovations have evolved through systematic tests and refinements.
3. Differentiate between inputs, processes, outputs, and feedback in technological systems.
4. Demonstrate how systems thinking involves considering relationships between every part, as well as how the systems interact with the environment in which it is used.
5. Create an open-loop system that has no feedback path and requires human intervention.
6. Create a closed-loop system that has a feedback path and requires no human intervention.
7. Predict outcomes of a future product or system at the beginning of the design process.
8. Apply informed problem-solving strategies to the improvement of existing devices or processes or the development of new approaches.
9. Explain how technology and engineering are closely linked to creativity, which can result in both intended and unintended innovations.
10. Compare how different technologies involve different sets of processes.
Integration of Knowledge, Technologies, and Practices
1. Compare, contrast, and identify overlap between the contributions of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the development of technological systems.
2. Analyze how different technological systems often interact with economic, environmental, and social systems.
3. Adapt and apply an existing product, system, or process to solve a problem in a different setting.
4. Demonstrate how knowledge gained from other content areas affects the development of technological products and systems.
Applying, Maintaining, Assessing and Evaluating Technological Products and Systems
1. Examine the ways that technology can have both positive and negative effects at the same time.
2. Analyze how the creation and use of technologies consumes renewable, non-renewable, and inexhaustible resources; creates waste; and may contribute to environmental challenges.
3. Consider the impacts of a proposed or existing technology and devise strategies for reducing, reusing, and recycling waste caused by its creation.
4. Analyze examples of technologies that have changed the way people think, interact, live, and communicate.
5. Hypothesize what alternative outcomes (individual, cultural, and/or environmental) might have resulted had a different technological solution been selected.
6. Analyze how an invention or innovation was influenced by the context and circumstances in which it is developed.
7. Evaluate trade-offs based on various perspectives as part of a decision process that recognizes the need for careful compromises among competing factors.
8. Research information from various sources to use and maintain technological products or systems.
9. Use tools, materials, and machines to safely diagnose, adjust, and repair systems.
10. Use devices to control technological systems.
11. Design methods to gather data about technological systems.
12. Interpret the accuracy of information collected.
13. Use instruments to gather data on the performance of everyday products.
Design Thinking in Technology and Engineering Education
1. Apply a technology and engineering design thinking process.
2. Develop innovative products and systems that solve problems and extend capabilities based on individual or collective needs and wants.
3. Illustrate the benefits and opportunities associated with different approaches to design.
4. Create solutions to problems by identifying and applying human factors in design.
5. Evaluate and assess the strengths and weaknesses of various design solutions given established principles and elements of design.
6. Refine design solutions to address criteria and constraints.
7. Defend decisions related to a design problem.
Grades 9—12
Nature and Characteristics of Technology & Engineering
1. Evaluate how technology and engineering have been powerful forces in reshaping the social, cultural, political, and economic landscapes throughout history.
2. Relate how technological and engineering developments have been evolutionary, often the result of a series of refinements to basic inventions or technological knowledge.
3. Identify and explain how the evolution of civilization has been directly affected by, and has in turn affected, the development and use of tools, materials, and processes.
4. Analyze how the Industrial Revolution resulted in the development of mass production, sophisticated transportation and communication systems, advanced construction practices, and improved education and leisure time.
5. Investigate the widespread changes that have resulted from the Information Age, which has placed emphasis on the processing and exchange of information.
6. Analyze the rate of technological and engineering development and predict future diffusion and adoption of new innovations and technologies.
7. Demonstrate the use of conceptual, graphical, virtual, mathematical, and physical modeling to identify conflicting considerations before the entire system is developed and to aid in design decision making.
8. Analyze the stability of a technological system and how it is influenced by all of the components in the system, especially those in the feedback loop.
9. Troubleshoot and improve a flawed system embedded within a larger technological, social, or environmental system.
10. Use project management tools, strategies, and processes in planning, organizing, and controlling work.
11. Implement quality control as a planned process to ensure that a product, service, or system meets established criteria.
Integration of Knowledge, Technologies, and Practices
1. Assess how similarities and differences among scientific, technological, engineering, and mathematical knowledge and skills contributed to the design of a product or system.
2. Develop a plan that incorporates knowledge from science, mathematics, and other disciplines to design or improve a technological product or system.
3. Analyze how technology transfer occurs when a user applies an existing innovation developed for one function for a different purpose.
4. Evaluate how technology enhances opportunities for new products and services through globalization.
5. Connect technological and engineering progress to the advancement of other areas of knowledge and vice versa.
Applying, Maintaining, Assessing, and Evaluating Technological Products and Systems
1. Develop a solution to a technological problem that has the least negative environmental and social impact.
2. Develop a device or system for the marketplace.
3. Evaluate ways that technology and engineering can impact individuals, society, and the environment.
4. Critique whether existing or proposed technologies use resources sustainably.
5. Critically assess and evaluate a technology that minimizes resource use and resulting waste to achieve a goal.
6. Evaluate a technological innovation that arose from a specific society's unique need or want.
7. Evaluate how technology and engineering advancements alter human health and capabilities.
8. Evaluate a technological innovation that was met with societal resistance impacting its development.
9. Use various approaches to communicate processes and procedures for using, maintaining, and assessing technological products and systems.
10. Synthesize data and analyze trends to make decisions about technological products, systems, or processes.
11. Interpret laws, regulations, policies, and other factors that impact the development and use of technology.
Design Thinking in Technology and Engineering Education
1. Apply a broad range of design skills to a design thinking process.
2. Implement and critique principles, elements, and factors of design.
3. Evaluate and define the purpose of a design.
4. Conduct research to inform intentional inventions and innovations that address specific needs and wants.
5. Analyze and use relevant and appropriate design thinking processes to solve technological and engineering problems.
6. Implement the best possible solution to a design using an explicit process.
7. Apply principles of human-centered design.
8. Optimize a design by addressing desired qualities within criteria and constraints while considering trade-offs.
9. Use a design thinking process to design an appropriate technology for use in a different culture.
10. Apply appropriate design thinking processes to diagnose, adjust, and repair systems to ensure precise, safe, and proper functionality.
11. Recognize and explain how their community and the world around them informs technological development and engineering design.
12. Safely apply an appropriate range of making skills to a design thinking process.
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 22-1043. Filed for public inspection July 15, 2022, 9:00 a.m.] _______
1 Across grades K—5, all of the core ideas in Table 1 are covered, but not every discipline or core idea is reflected at every grade.
2 The language of the standards is adapted, informed by or taken from the: National Research Council. (2012). A framework for K—12 science education: Practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. North American Association for Environmental Education (2019) K—12 environmental education: Guidelines for excellence; International Society for Technology in Education Standards. (2019). ISTE standards for students; International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA) (2020); NGSS Lead States. (2013). Next generation science standards: For states, by states; Standards for technological and engineering literacy: The role of technology and engineering in STEM education. National Council for Agricultural Education. (2015); International Society for Technology in Education. (2019). ISTE Standards for students. Agriculture, food and natural resources (AFNR) career cluster content standards; Pennsylvania State Board of Education. (2002). Academic standards for science and technology; Pennsylvania Department of Education. (2002). Safety guidelines for elementary and technology education teachers; Pennsylvania Department of Education. (n.d.). Pennsylvania career ready skills continuum; Standards for Technological and Engineering Literacy. (2020); Pennsylvania Association for Environmental Educators. (September 2015). Pennsylvania environmental literacy plan Pennsylvania State Board of Education. (2002). Academic standards for environment and ecology. North American Association for Environmental Education. (2014). State environmental literacy plans: 2014 status report.
3 The asterisk (*) indicates that the Performance Expectation is integrating Engineering Design.
4 The language of the standards is adapted, informed by or taken from the: National Research Council. (2012). A framework for K—12 science education: Practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. North American Association for Environmental Education (2019) K—12 environmental education: Guidelines for excellence; International Society for Technology in Education Standards. (2019). ISTE standards for students; International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA) (2020); NGSS Lead States. (2013). Next generation science standards: For states, by states; Standards for technological and engineering literacy: The role of technology and engineering in STEM education. National Council for Agricultural Education. (2015); International Society for Technology in Education. (2019). ISTE Standards for students. Agriculture, food and natural resources (AFNR) career cluster content standards; Pennsylvania State Board of Education. (2002). Academic standards for science and technology; Pennsylvania Department of Education. (2002). Safety guidelines for elementary and technology education teachers; Pennsylvania Department of Education. (n.d.). Pennsylvania career ready skills continuum; Standards for Technological and Engineering Literacy. (2020); Pennsylvania Association for Environmental Educators. (September 2015). Pennsylvania environmental literacy plan Pennsylvania State Board of Education. (2002). Academic standards for environment and ecology. North American Association for Environmental Education. (2014). State environmental literacy plans: 2014 status report.
5 The asterisk (*) indicates that the Performance Expectation is integrating Engineering Design.
6 The language of the standards is adapted, informed by or taken from the: National Research Council. (2012). A framework for K—12 science education: Practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. North American Association for Environmental Education (2019) K—12 environmental education: Guidelines for excellence; International Society for Technology in Education Standards. (2019). ISTE standards for students; International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA) (2020); NGSS Lead States. (2013). Next generation science standards: For states, by states; Standards for technological and engineering literacy: The role of technology and engineering in STEM education. National Council for Agricultural Education. (2015); International Society for Technology in Education. (2019). ISTE Standards for students. Agriculture, food and natural resources (AFNR) career cluster content standards; Pennsylvania State Board of Education. (2002). Academic standards for science and technology; Pennsylvania Department of Education. (2002). Safety guidelines for elementary and technology education teachers; Pennsylvania Department of Education. (n.d.). Pennsylvania career ready skills continuum; Standards for Technological and Engineering Literacy. (2020); Pennsylvania Association for Environmental Educators. (September 2015). Pennsylvania environmental literacy plan Pennsylvania State Board of Education. (2002). Academic standards for environment and ecology. North American Association for Environmental Education. (2014). State environmental literacy plans: 2014 status report.
7 The language of the standards is adapted, informed or from the: International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA). (2020). Standards for technological and engineering literacy: The role of technology and engineering in STEM education. Pennsylvania State Board of Education. (2002). Academic standards for science and technology; Pennsylvania Department of Education. (2002). Safety guidelines for elementary and technology education teachers; Pennsylvania Department of Education. (n.d.). Pennsylvania career ready skills continuum.
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