With Tier 1 Rating for New PhD Science™, Great Minds™ Is Sole Curriculum Developer to Earn Three Top Scores from Louisiana DOE

WASHINGTON, May 21, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Great Minds® is now the only curriculum developer to have earned three Tier 1 ratings, the highest possible, from the Louisiana Department of Education for its core offerings in science, math, and English language arts (ELA). Experts laud Louisiana's thorough review of curricular materials as among the best in the nation.

PhD Science^™ is the only science curriculum rated Tier 1 in Louisiana. Louisiana also rates Great Minds' Eureka Math™ and Wit & Wisdom® Tier 1. Consistent improvements in student achievement at schools implementing Great Minds curricula have proved the ratings were spot on.  

Great Minds, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, tapped great classroom teachers and scholars to write PhD Science, a model the nonprofit successfully used to develop its math and ELA materials. A dozen school districts with diverse student populations piloted PhD Science, providing valuable feedback. With PhD Science, students develop a deep and coherent understanding of important scientific ideas through the study of compelling phenomena including the Grand Canyon, elephant communication, the wind, and even the disappearance of Amelia Earhart.

"What makes an entire class of students ask to skip recess? PhD Science! My students didn't want to stop the experiment until everyone's light bulb had been lit," said Cindy Abel, a Grade 4 teacher with Valley View School District in Illinois. She was describing a project in which her students built and tested generators, which involved sanding and coiling wire and making a working circuit.

"PhD Science is the third Great Minds core curriculum to win Tier 1 status in Louisiana. This honor is a testament not only to teacher-centered curriculum design but also to materials that assume greatness is the goal," Great Minds CEO Lynne Munson said. "We set the highest expectations for our writers, for teachers, and for students. It is exciting to see that embraced and working for students nationwide."

PhD Science is the latest exemplar core curriculum from Great Minds, developer of the most widely used math curriculum in the country, Eureka Math, and the recently released K–8 ELA curriculum Wit & Wisdom—both of which earned Louisiana's prestigious Tier 1 rating across all grades offered, along with top ratings from the independent national nonprofit EdReports.org.

PhD Science is designed for science standards based on A Framework for K–12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The Louisiana Department of Education is among the first state education agencies to review science curricula based on the Framework. Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia have adopted Framework-based standards. Nineteen of those have adopted the NGSS. The Framework and the NGSS present the science content and practices students should know across the grades. Both emphasize deep, conceptual understanding of science over rote memorization.

About Great Minds: The nonprofit recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, moving from a startup to an organization that supports schools nationwide with the highest quality materials. A group of educators founded Great Minds in 2008 to define and encourage knowledge-rich comprehensive education for all students. Great Minds' Eureka Math and Wit & Wisdom have won accolades at the state and national levels, including in independent reviews such as EdReports.org. A RAND Corporation survey of teachers found Eureka Math has become the most widely used math curriculum in the country. Learn more at GreatMinds.org.

SOURCE Great Minds

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