This forum piece extends the conversation within Katie Milton Brkich, Alejandro J. Gallard Martínez, Wesley Pitts, and Silvia Lizette Ramos de Roble's article 'The Rejection of the NGSS in Georgia: Social Covenants as Contextually Mitigating Factors,' by looking at potential implications for diverse learners and novice teachers. I draw on the original author's astute observations of national and regional covenants that dictate what constitutes as science within state-assessed science standards. The dialogic process utilized focuses on why practitioners need to understand the development process of curriculum standards at both the national and state levels. The article discusses how limiting scientific literacy embedded in the standards, narrowing the context in which science can be viewed, and how best practices taught in teacher preparation programs contradict the context of standards-based instruction for in-service teachers.