Achieve Announces NGSS Design Badge for High-Quality Science Units

Washington, D.C. — March 13, 2018 — Achieve today announced that it is now awarding a first-of its-kind digital badge to science units designed for the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) that have earned a rating of “E: Example of high-quality NGSS design” on the Educators Evaluating the Quality of Instructional Products (EQuIP) Rubric for Science based on a review conducted by Achieve or its Science Peer Review Panel.

Many science instructional materials claim to be aligned to the NGSS with little to no evidence. The quality control that Achieve’s review process provides helps educators make smarter decisions about which instructional materials to use. Achieve hopes the NGSS Design Badge will provide an easy way for consumers to be assured that a unit — whether it was found online for free or purchased from a big publisher — is high quality and designed for the NGSS.

This badge is significant for both the education and technology sectors. It represents one of the first times a digital badge is being awarded to a resource for its quality rather than to an individual for skills they have learned or acquired — new technology Concentric Sky has developed just for the NGSS Design Badge.

“We’re excited to partner with Achieve on this visionary initiative to extend the use of Open Badges to cover online learning resources,” said Wayne Skipper, CEO of Concentric Sky. “The education community is just starting to scratch the surface of what is possible with these technologies, and Achieve is leading the way.”

While recommendation lists exist for science instructional materials, this is the first time digital badges will be awarded to specific instructional materials for any subject. This seal of approval can be placed on the developer’s website or on the resources themselves for educators to see.

Achieve hopes the NGSS Design Badge will incentivize publishers and developers to use the EQuIP Rubric for Science when designing instructional materials for the NGSS and to take advantage of Achieve’s review and support services. Earning the badge will give developers a way to demonstrate to potential customers that their materials are high quality and designed for the NGSS.

Each digital badge awarded will be an Open Badge issued via Badgr, meaning that each badge will be digitally verifiable. By clicking on the badge image, a consumer will see information about the awarded unit, a link to the complete EQuIP review of that unit that describes the evidence associated with earning the NGSS Design Badge, and a link to a list of all other units that have earned the badge. Each badge will be accompanied with the name of the awarded unit and date awarded for immediate recognition.

To learn more about the NGSS Design Badge, please join us for a joint webinar hosted by Achieve and Concentric Sky on April 3 at 1:00 pm ET. Register for the webinar here.

See an FAQ about the NGSS Design Badge here.

Achieve would like to thank Arconic Foundation, Bayer USA Foundation, and Pisces Foundation for supporting this work.

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MEDIA CONTACT: Chad Colby (202) 419-1570, ccolby@achieve.org Kelly Van Beveren (202) 745-2306, kvanbeveren@achieve.org