NGSS Design Badge
Many science instructional materials claim to be aligned to the NGSS with little to no evidence. The quality control of NextGenScience’s review process helps educators make smart decisions about which instructional materials to use.
The NGSS Design Badge provides an easy way for consumers to be assured that a unit — whether found online for free or purchased from a publisher — is designed for the NGSS. As a digital badge with embedded, detailed feedback about the materials, the evidence for why the badge was awarded follows the badge wherever it goes. It’s critical that educators know not only that the materials are designed for today’s science standards, but also that evidence supports this claim.
The NGSS Design Badge also gives publishers and developers a way to demonstrate to educators and science leaders that their materials are high quality and designed for the NGSS.
As of November 2020, approximately 4% of all units reviewed had been awarded the prestigious NGSS Design Badge.
High-Quality Science Units
NextGenScience shares the highest quality free and publicly available units, along with feedback on them, to serve as concrete examples to educators and district curriculum coordinators so they can recognize and demand quality features from publishers. Of these, only the materials with the highest rating on the EQuIP Rubric for Science earn the NGSS Design Badge.
Each high-quality science unit is available to download and showcases the features of high-quality design for today’s science standards. These units could be used in a unit study or professional learning experience to see the innovations of this instructional design and apply this knowledge to evaluate and adopt a full science program with these features. We encourage users to review the corresponding EQuIP Rubric for Science feedback to gain a sense of the materials’ purpose, strengths, and areas for improvement.