Today, the Tennessee State Board of Education launched the science standards review website, https://apps.tn.gov/tcas/, to collect public feedback on Tennessee’s newly revised grade K-12 science standards. This is the first time the revised science standards, recently improved by Tennessee educators, will be available for public review.

The K-12 science standards set grade-specific goals that exemplify what students are expected to know and be able to do by the end of a given grade or course.

This is the second opportunity for every Tennessean to log in online, review each specific science standard by grade level, and provide comments and make suggestions for changes.

“We are eager to gather more public feedback after a very successful first round,” said Dr. Sara Heyburn, Executive Director of the State Board of Education. “This extensive and transparent review is a critical part of our collective efforts to ensure Tennessee students are postsecondary and workforce ready.”

The initial science standards review website was made available for public comment last fall. The website drew over 29,000 public reviews from more than 1,300 reviewers. The data was shared with an educator advisory team during the winter for review and revision work.

Once feedback has been collected again from the public, the Standards Recommendation Committee (SRC), appointed by the Governor, Lt. Governor, and Speaker of the House of Representatives will review it and make additional changes. The SRC will then propose new science standards to the State Board of Education on first reading in July 2016.

The revised science standards will be implemented in the 2018-19 school year.

In October 2014, Gov. Haslam introduced a similar review process online, in partnership with the State Board, for the state’s English language arts and math standards. This process was codified by the General Assembly in HB 1035. For more information, please visit http://tn.gov/sbe/topic/standards-review.