Rutherford 9553594 The publication of the National Science Education Standards and the Benchmarks for Science Literacy demonstrates a strong national consensus on specific learning goals in science. However, developing a curriculum to help students and teachers become science literate requires a more diverse, but focused, set of materials than exists. Preservice and inservice professional development must prepare teachers to adequately evaluate and adapt curriculum materials. Funders and policy makers involved with development and adoption of materials must align their decision-making processes with science literacy goals. A procedure is needed for evaluating the extent to which materials address Standards or Benchmarks. This project is to refine an existing process for evaluating materials, provide an evaluation mechanism with examples and case studies, disseminate the process, and develop a cadre of developers, teachers and teacher educators who understand it and can advocate for its use.
