How How Public Utilities Work maps to national standards frameworks, and the independent recognition it has earned.

Adopting a curriculum that doesn’t align to standards creates work for teachers and risk for districts. How Public Utilities Work is built around three national standards frameworks, and it has been independently reviewed and recognized by STEM.org. This page summarizes that alignment at the framework level. A short overview is available to download, and detailed lesson-level crosswalks are available to districts on request.

Independent recognition

How Public Utilities Work and Utility Campus, LLC hold three designations from STEM.org Educational Research. These are independent, third-party designations, not self-assessments.

STEM.org Educational Research™ is an independent credentialing organization for STEM education. Their review is independent of any government agency, regulatory body, or industry association. For more information on the trustmarks and the review process, visit stem.org.

Frameworks we align to

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

The curriculum draws on specific NGSS strands across grade bands:

  • Grade 5: Earth’s Systems, Energy
  • Middle School: MS-ETS (Engineering Design), MS-PS3 (Energy), MS-ESS3 (Earth and Human Activity)
  • High School: HS-PS3 (Energy), HS-ESS3 (Earth and Human Activity), HS-ETS (Engineering Design)

Lessons on generation, transmission, distribution, and grid operations draw on ESS3 and PS3. Lessons on safety, emergencies, and efficiency connect to ETS1 and PS3.

C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards

The curriculum maps to C3 Dimensions 2 and 4:

  • Dimension 2 (Applying Disciplinary Tools and Concepts), primarily Economics and Civics, with selected Geography and History connections
  • Dimension 4 (Communicating Conclusions and Taking Informed Action), communication, argumentation, and civic-action indicators across grade bands

The emphasis on rate cases, consumer rights, and regulatory institutions, especially in Unit 4, makes the curriculum strong on Economics and Civics.

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (CCSS-ELA)

Reading, Writing, and Speaking & Listening practices are integrated throughout, grades 5–12: reading of informational and technical text, argument and explanatory writing, and comprehension, collaboration, and presentation of knowledge.

Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSS-Math)

Where lessons involve calculation or data: unit rates, percentage, ratio, graphing, and data interpretation. Examples include meter reading and kilowatt-hours (Lesson 5), electric bill calculations (Lesson 8), efficiency decisions (Lessons 9–13), and rate arithmetic (Lesson 24).

Career and Technical Education (CTE)

A Career Spotlight in every lesson profiles real utility-industry roles. Across the curriculum, more than thirty careers are profiled, supporting CTE pathways in the Energy, Environmental, and Public Utility industries.

Download the alignment overview

A framework-level alignment overview is available as a short PDF.

→ Download the Standards Alignment Overview (PDF)

Districts and states in active adoption can request a detailed, lesson-by-lesson crosswalk with specific standard codes. Email contact@utilitycampus.com.

State and local alignment

State and local standards vary. While we’ve mapped to the major national frameworks, individual states and districts may have their own standards or interpretive guidance. We strongly encourage adopting educators to perform their own alignment review against their local requirements as part of the adoption process.

If your state, district, or school has specific alignment requirements you’d like us to address, contact us at contact@utilitycampus.com. We may be able to provide supplementary alignment documents for state-specific requests.

On the limits of standards alignment

Standards alignment is a necessary part of curriculum adoption, but it isn’t the whole story. The most important question isn’t whether a curriculum can be mapped to standards. Almost any curriculum can be, with enough creative crosswalking. The real question is whether the curriculum actually teaches the material well enough that students learn it. We describe our alignment honestly and at the framework level, and we let the curriculum’s independent recognition speak to its quality.