California NGSS · Grade 7 Preferred Integrated Course Model
Standards alignment overview
Every Grade 7 performance expectation, with the chapters that address it and how many worksheets and labs give practice toward or assess it. Codes marked Grade 6 or 8 are standards that belong to other years in California's integrated sequence but that a textbook lesson connects to; those connections are labeled honestly on the chapter pages.
Source: California Department of Education, Preferred Integrated Course Model documents (Grades 6, 7 and 8), accessed 2026-10-18.
Grade 7 performance expectations
| Code | Performance expectation | Chapters | Worksheets | Labs | Items that assess |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MS-ESS2-1 | Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth’s materials and the flow of energy that drives this process. | Ch. 10 assesses Ch. 11 supports Ch. 17 assesses Ch. 19 supports | 19 | 10 | 6 |
| MS-ESS2-2 | Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth’s surface at varying time and spatial scales. | Ch. 8 practice Ch. 9 practice Ch. 10 supports Ch. 11 assesses Ch. 16 supports Ch. 17 practice Ch. 25 supports Ch. 26 supports | 23 | 10 | 4 |
| MS-ESS2-3 | Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of the past plate motions. | Ch. 16 assesses Ch. 25 supports | 17 | 4 | 6 |
| MS-ESS3-1 | Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth’s mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes. | Ch. 17 supports Ch. 18 supports Ch. 19 assesses | 10 | 4 | 4 |
| MS-ESS3-2 | Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects. | Ch. 11 supports Ch. 25 assesses Ch. 26 assesses | 20 | 6 | 11 |
| MS-ETS1-1 all grades | Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions. | Ch. 1 assesses Ch. 2 practice Ch. 4 practice Ch. 13 practice Ch. 14 assesses Ch. 15 practice Ch. 16 practice Ch. 21 practice Ch. 22 practice Ch. 24 practice Ch. 25 practice Ch. 28 practice Ch. 29 assesses | 28 | 12 | 5 |
| MS-ETS1-2 all grades | Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem. | Ch. 2 practice Ch. 3 practice Ch. 4 assesses Ch. 7 assesses Ch. 12 practice Ch. 14 assesses Ch. 15 practice Ch. 19 assesses Ch. 20 practice Ch. 21 practice Ch. 22 practice Ch. 24 practice Ch. 25 practice Ch. 26 practice Ch. 27 practice Ch. 28 assesses Ch. 29 assesses | 36 | 24 | 14 |
| MS-ETS1-3 all grades | Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success. | Ch. 2 practice Ch. 3 practice Ch. 13 assesses Ch. 14 assesses Ch. 18 assesses Ch. 24 assesses Ch. 26 practice Ch. 27 practice Ch. 28 practice | 13 | 10 | 5 |
| MS-ETS1-4 all grades | Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved. | Ch. 6 practice Ch. 10 practice Ch. 14 practice Ch. 18 assesses | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| MS-LS1-6 | Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms. | Ch. 4 assesses Ch. 5 supports Ch. 7 supports | 18 | 6 | 4 |
| MS-LS1-7 | Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism. | Ch. 5 assesses | 12 | 3 | 5 |
| MS-LS2-1 | Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem. | Ch. 6 supports Ch. 20 assesses Ch. 21 supports Ch. 22 supports | 21 | 8 | 5 |
| MS-LS2-2 | Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems. | Ch. 20 practice Ch. 21 assesses | 15 | 5 | 4 |
| MS-LS2-3 | Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem. | Ch. 4 practice Ch. 5 supports Ch. 6 assesses Ch. 7 assesses Ch. 10 supports | 30 | 10 | 9 |
| MS-LS2-4 | Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations. | Ch. 6 practice Ch. 20 practice Ch. 22 assesses Ch. 27 practice | 32 | 9 | 5 |
| MS-LS2-5 | Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services. | Ch. 27 assesses Ch. 28 assesses Ch. 29 assesses | 30 | 9 | 13 |
| MS-PS1-1 | Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures. | Ch. 1 practice Ch. 2 assesses Ch. 3 supports | 22 | 7 | 4 |
| MS-PS1-2 | Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred. | Ch. 3 practice Ch. 12 assesses Ch. 13 supports | 21 | 7 | 4 |
| MS-PS1-3 | Gather and make sense of information to describe that synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society. | Ch. 2 supports Ch. 12 supports Ch. 15 assesses | 12 | 3 | 6 |
| MS-PS1-4 | Develop a model that predicts and describes changes in particle motion, temperature, and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed. | Ch. 23 assesses Ch. 24 assesses | 20 | 6 | 11 |
| MS-PS1-5 | Develop and use a model to describe how the total number of atoms does not change in a chemical reaction and thus mass is conserved. | Ch. 5 practice Ch. 13 assesses | 12 | 5 | 6 |
| MS-PS1-6 | Undertake a design project to construct, test, and modify a device that either releases or absorbs thermal energy by chemical processes. | Ch. 14 assesses | 10 | 3 | 1 |
Connections to other grades' standards
These appear only where a textbook lesson genuinely builds on or reaches toward them.
| Code | CA grade | Performance expectation | Chapters |
|---|---|---|---|
| MS-ESS1-4 | Grade 8 | Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth’s 4.6-billion-year-old history. | Ch. 8 (practice) Ch. 9 (assesses) |
| MS-ESS2-4 | Grade 6 | Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth’s systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity. | Ch. 7 (supports) Ch. 10 (supports) Ch. 18 (assesses) Ch. 19 (supports) Ch. 26 (supports) |
| MS-ESS2-6 | Grade 6 | Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates. | Ch. 10 (supports) |
| MS-ESS3-3 | Grade 6 | Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment. | Ch. 28 (supports) |
| MS-ESS3-4 | Grade 8 | Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth’s systems. | Ch. 29 (supports) |
| MS-LS1-5 | Grade 6 | Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms. | Ch. 20 (supports) |
| MS-LS4-1 | Grade 8 | Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past. | Ch. 8 (supports) Ch. 9 (supports) |
| MS-PS3-3 | Grade 6 | Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer. | Ch. 24 (practice) |
| MS-PS3-4 | Grade 6 | Plan an investigation to determine the relationships among the energy transferred, the type of matter, the mass, and the change in the average kinetic energy of the particles as measured by the temperature of the sample. | Ch. 23 (supports) Ch. 24 (supports) |
| MS-PS4-2 | Grade 8 | Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials. | Ch. 21 (supports) |
Reading the roles
- Assesses: the task produces student work that is evidence toward the performance expectation as written, within its assessment boundary.
- Practice toward: the task builds the practice, core idea or crosscutting concept the expectation needs, without being a full assessment of it.
- Supports: background knowledge or a prerequisite idea.