Elevate Standards Alignment - Standards Updates

Pennsylvania Science: Explanation of Multiple 2022 Documents (May 2023)

We currently have the following captures available for the 2022 PA Science standards:

Pennsylvania > Academic Standards > Science, Environment, Ecology, Technology and Engineering (2022) (grades K-5 only)
Pennsylvania > Academic Standards > Science, Environment and Ecology (2022) (grades 6-12 only)
Pennsylvania > Academic Standards > Technology and Engineering (2022) (grades 6-12 only)
Pennsylvania > Academic Standards > Science, Technology & Engineering, and Environmental Literacy & Sustainability Academic (STEELS) (2022)

The first three captures that were released initially utilize the PDF source files that are available on the PA State Board of Education website. The fourth capture, STEELS, utilizes the source file available on the PA Standards Aligned Systems (SAS) website. We will be monitoring and maintaining all four captures.

Why does PA have multiple versions of the 2022 science standards?

According to the state, the original source files posted on the BOE website were created by independent, grade-banded teams. As a result, the 2022 science standards were not structured or presented in a unified K-12 document. To remedy that issue, PA then created the STEELS version of the standards.

Which version of the standards should I use?

According to the state, the alignable standards in each version (PDFs vs. STEELS) are the same. The differences occur in the hierarchy or in the clarifications in STEELS. The state says people will be using the STEELS version.

How will this impact alignments?

Any existing alignments between assets and standards will not change.

Is there a way to migrate my existing 2022 alignments to the new STEELS version?

We have made the following relationships for the new STEELS capture:

The replaces/replaced by relationship can be used to map alignments from the original 3 PA documents to the STEELS document. This will be a one to one mapping.
STEELS will also be related to NGSS through derivative relationships. This means that you will also see peer_deriviative relationships by way of NGSS for the original 3 PA documents and STEELS.

Both relationships above should allow you to quickly align to the STEELS document based on alignments previously made to the PA original documents or NGSS.

Additionally, we will be crosswalking STEELS to the current science standards in all US states. Those relationships will not be ready until early June.

What action must I take?

You may want to update your alignments if you want to use the STEELS version of the science standards.

For questions about these changes, please contact the Elevate Standards Alignment Support team.

Elevate Standards Alignment - Standards Updates

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