Carlisle presenters outline shift to PASTEELs/NGSS biology curriculum, board to vote in two weeks

The Carlisle Area School Districteducation committee heard a presentation on proposed revisions to the high school biology curriculum on April 3, with science department staff saying the changes will align classroom work with PennsylvaniaSTEELs (the stateadopted NGSS framework) and OpenSciEd instructional materials.

Presenters said the district will reduce its current 10-unit biology sequence to five units that embed a three-dimensional framework of disciplinary core ideas, cross-cutting concepts and science-and-engineering practices. Mrs. Sam Moyer, the district science lead, and Mrs. Norcross, a biology teacher, said the five units are: ecosystem interactions and dynamics; ecosystems: matter and energy; inheritance and variation of traits; natural selection and evolution of populations; and common ancestry and speciation.

The presenters highlighted that the revised curriculum emphasizes student-led sense-making and application rather than memorization. "We're handing over that power to the students and having them take ownership of that learning while we're guiding them along their path," Mrs. Norcross said. The team said the curriculum will embed math and ELA skills, increase the number of hands-on investigations and build unit-long "anchoring phenomena" to motivate inquiry.

Why it matters: district staff said the Keystone biology exam is shifting toward higher-depth-of-knowledge items (DOK 3) that require students to apply concepts in scenarios rather than recall facts. The presenters argued the new curriculumby designprepares students for that format by including frequent data analysis, modeling and transfer tasks.

Presenters gave examples of classroom implementation and supports. They said the curriculum currently includes roughly 15to16 labs in the existing program and that, in some new units, 10 of 15 lessons will be hands-on investigations or simulations. Universal Design for Learning strategies are built into each unit to provide multiple entry points for multilingual learners and students with disabilities; strategies cited included visuals, word banks and model-building provided to all students to support access.

Board members and attendees asked about rollout and assessment. Board member Dr. Shane praised the presentation and asked whether teachers felt energized or constrained; presenters and other staff said training and administrative support over several years have helped teachers adopt phenomenon-based instruction incrementally. District staff reported teachers have attended IU-led STEELs trainings and that several teachers will be part of an IU 15 panel to share implementation lessons with other districts.

On assessments, presenters said they reviewed Keystone field-test samplers and observed an increase in reading load, graph analysis, and scenario-based multiple-choice and open-response items requiring integration of a DCI with an engineering practice or cross-cutting concept. "DOK 3 is really what they're aiming for," a presenter said, describing sample items that require students to design or evaluate investigations.

Next steps: presenters said the administration will bring the revised biology curriculum to the full board for a formal vote in two weeks. No final action was taken during the committee meeting.

The presentation materials and implementation details (for example, how honors scheduling and algebra prerequisites interact with honors biology enrollment) were discussed but staff said specific classroom placements will be worked out with counselors and building schedules before the new materials go into classrooms next year.

In closing, Mrs. Norcross and Mrs. Moyer thanked administrators for travel and substitute coverage that supported multi-year training, saying the sustained support made the planned transition feasible.