NGSS* Science Standards
What the Next Generation Science Standards are, how their codes work, and every performance expectation from kindergarten to high school explained in plain English.
Science Standards by Grade
What the NGSS* Are
The Next Generation Science Standards set what students should know and be able to do in science from kindergarten to 12th grade. Each one is a performance expectation: something students do, built from three parts that are taught together.
Science and Engineering Practices
What scientists and engineers do, like asking questions or analyzing data.
Disciplinary Core Ideas
The key ideas in physical, life, earth and space science, and engineering.
Crosscutting Concepts
Ideas that link every science, like patterns or cause and effect.
How to Read an NGSS Code
The Official Wording
Every performance expectation is shown in its official wording, quoted from the NGSS Lead States (2013), beside our plain-English explanation. Each standard's own page adds its clarification statement and assessment boundary.
Read the full standards on nextgenscience.org →Official wording from NGSS Lead States. 2013. Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. The plain-English lines and everything else on this page are EMStudio’s own explanations, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standards.
*NGSS is a registered trademark of WestEd. Neither WestEd nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of this product, and do not endorse it.