A diverse team of five science professors from Philadelphia area colleges and universities, school and museum science leaders, and staff from the Math Science Partnership of Greater Philadelphia have released a joint report aligning the Pennsylvania Assessment Anchors and Eligible Content Standards to the standards and benchmarks outlined by  a number of state and national organizations.

The roadmap, called the Science Literacy Matrix 9-12, more than a year in the making, allows readers to readily see which standards and benchmarks are viewed as high priorities by all the stakeholders. It can be downloaded at no charge at http://mspgp.org/Documents/Matrix_finalversion.pdf .

The Science Literacy Matrix 9-12 project arose out of a need expressed by Governor's Rendell's Commission on College and Career Success to articulate the science knowledge and skills needed by high school graduates to assure their success in college and careers.

The Matrix is a cross section of the most highly valued outcomes as articulated by various state and national organizations. The goal of the Matrix is to stimulate discussion, debate, contrast and comparison, as each district considers its values and goals for its students. Ideally a district's articulation of the science skills and concepts presented in the Matrix would be the capstone of a well-coordinated and coherent K-12 science curriculum.

Users of the Matrix:  In pilot testing, the Matrix has been found to be useful to a wide audience concerned with schools. One school board member who used the Matrix remarked that,  

'The Matrix was valuable in helping me see the complexity of the process of mapping a curriculum to match standards and grappling with the goal of educating for the future.'

For classroom teachers, the Matrix can help define the 'Big Ideas' in their courses which are most worthy of emphasis. In the words of one classroom teacher

'[The Matrix] is a way to ensure that lessons are valuable on multiple levels - content, science skills, workforce skills'

The priorities the Matrix highlights can also be used to create in-class assessment items to measure student progress toward those goals. Classroom Teachers who do not teach science can also benefit from using the Matrix.  Comments from ESL and Special Education teachers suggest that:

'The Matrix helped me see that learning is more about science as a vehicle for language experience and how to support science learning through language instruction.  I see how I could incorporate ways of helping my students make connections across the subject areas and how that would help them in their science classes as well.'

'The Matrix outlines the overall picture of science knowledge, especially the interrelated pieces that serve as foundations, if not actual prerequisites, for science concepts at higher levels.

In addition, as one science supervisor observed, the Matrix can be used as a support in the development of an articulated curriculum

'Districts need a K-12 aligned curriculum, and the support and resources to do this. The Matrix is a wonderful resource to aid in this process.'

This project was undertaken by a Task Force on Science Literacy brought together by the Math Science Partnership of Greater Philadelphia and funded by the National Science Foundation.

The Task Force used the following documents:

* PA. Department of Education Assessment Anchors and Eligible Content for Science (2007) * PA. Department of Education Academic Standards for Science and Technology (2002) * PA Department of Education Academic Standards for Environment and Ecology (2002) (combined with the previous document in this matrix) * American Association of Universities Standards for Success (2003) - Science     http://www.ous.edu/state_board/meeting/files/ddoc050408-ssppt.pdf * American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Project 2061 Benchmarks for Science Literacy (1993) * Global Competitiveness: An Analysis of Business and Industry Recommendations,' in Natural Selection, BSCS (Spring, 2006) which was based on the SCANS report Learning for Living:A Blueprint for High Performance (2000)

Science Task Force Members (alphabetically) Mary Constant Byrne, Ph.D., Lecturer of Biology, Muhlenberg College Donna Cleland, M.Sci.Ed, Asst Director for Science, The Math Science Partnership of Greater Philadelphia Brian Exton, M.A.Ed., Assistant Professor of Geology, Cedar Crest College William K. Gibbard, M.Sci.Ed Science Coordinator Allentown School District Marlene Hilkowitz, M.Sci.Ed, Science Education Consultant Holly J. Morris, Ph.D., Professor of Biology, Lehigh Carbon Community College Deborah Pomeroy, Ed.D. , Director of Science Education Research, Arcadia University Stefan Jude Samulewicz, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biology, LaSalle University David L. Smith, Ph.D., Director of Professional Development, Da Vinci Science Center Jerry Weiner, Ed.D., Science Coordinator Bensalem School District Melanie Wills, Ph.D., Doctoral Student of Math and Science Education, Temple University