Understanding the 2012 NSTA Science Standards for Teacher Preparation

Overview & Synopsis

The purpose of this article is to present the new National Science Teachers Association-Standards for Science Teacher Preparation (NSTA-SSTP). The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) is the new national accreditation organization for programs of education. NSTA collaborates with CAEP to establish content specific standards for the evaluation of science education programs. Recently, NSTA has developed new science teacher education standards that reflect the research base associated with what a new science teacher should know. The standards were developed from national guidelines and the research literature on science education. The new NSTA-SSTP reflect the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that a newly certified teacher must know and be able to do. The paper concludes with a description of how to submit a report to CAEP and NSTA for accreditation of a secondary science education program.