Administration and Finance
Commissioner's Office
District Support
Educational Options
Instructional Support
Kaleidoscope Collective
Legal
Planning and Research
Strategic Initiatives
Student Assessment
Massachusetts participated in the OpenSciEd Elementary (K–5) field test from 2023–2025. Over 150 educators from across the state and more than 5,000 students piloted and provided feedback on the materials. The instructional materials and professional learning are designed to support teachers in engaging students in scientific thinking that moves learning about science (memorizing facts) to figuring things out through phenomena-driven instruction that is collaborative and relevant to students lives. The curriculum is aligned to the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks/Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and include ELA/literacy and math integrations. Units are freely available on the OpenSciEd website .
Each publicly available unit has received a NGSS Design Badge , indicating high-quality. Once the curriculum is completed, it will be reviewed by EdReports and CURATE.
High-quality, standards-aligned instruction represents a change in pedagogy and instruction, not just content and curriculum materials. Schools and districts that intend to adopt HQIM should ensure that teachers have ample time in their schedule to experience ongoing professional learning. Professional learning should be curriculum specific whenever possible, and should include a combination of formal unit training, guided professional learning communities, and responsive coaching.
For OpenSciEd, it is recommended to use a certified provider to provide unit training and to support district and school leadership in developing the competencies needed to build supportive learning systems for teachers.
Selecting HQIM is just the beginning of a complex, multi-year implementation process. Many tools for leaders to support implementation of Science HQIM are available at the NGSS Curriculum Tools Leadership site . If you would like to begin the process of evaluating, selecting, and implementing HQIM, we recommend using the IMplementMA process or a similar process. DESE offers annual networks that are open to all Massachusetts districts in support of the evaluating/selecting and implementing/monitoring processes.
DESE has created a suite of instructional planning and classroom observation tools to support school teams in using HQIM.
Last Updated: October 24, 2025