In October of 2018, the Arizona state board of education voted 6-4 to adopt new state science standards. These standards were recently revised under suggestions from the Arizona Science Teachers Association to include climate change concepts at the high school level, which were removed in the previous revision. In March 2018, a draft of the proposed standards was released for public comment, which concluded in May 2018. Once feedback was collected from educators, content experts, community members, and other stakeholders, it was analyzed by working groups of parents and community members to make the appropriate revisions. 

The following items provide an overview of proposed changes: 

• Shifting from performance objectives to broaden standards to allow for greater depth and more connections 

• Organizing standards around big ideas in science learning progressions and coherence 

• Connecting science practices with science content 

• Increasing the number of standards in the areas of evolution and change in climate 

• Connecting science standards to other academic disciplines