Today few states require Earth science as part of the high school curriculum—despite the fact that both NSES and AAAS Benchmarks have substantial Earth and space science content standards. However, this may change. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) give equal importance to Earth and space science, physical science, life science and engineering. And it’s likely that the 26 Lead State Partners that helped develop the standards will adopt them in their entirety, which could provide a significant motivation for incorporating more Earth and space science content into their required curriculum.