Student Achievement Through Active Science Learning

1. Student Achievement Through Active Science Learning Dr. Michael Klentschy, Superintendent El Centro School District El Centro, California

2. A Field Trip to El Centro, California

3. Valle Imperial Project in Science In partnership with Imperial Valley Science Project

4. Case Study Critical Questions • What is the context? • What is the infrastructure? • What is the evidence? • What are the implications?

5. Context • Need • Our Region • Our Community • Our Students

6. Where is El Centro? El Centro

7. Our Community and Students In Imperial County • Mean income $16,322 • Poorest of all 58 counties in California • 30% unemployment rate • 22,500 students in 14 Districts

8. In El Centro • 6,500 K-8 students • 11 Title I, School-wide Project Schools • 77% Free/Reduced Lunch • 61% English Language Learners • 10% Migrant • 81% Hispanic, 12% Caucasian, 4% African-American, 3% Asian

9. Valle Imperial Project inScience Five Critical Elements for Reform High Quality Curriculum Sustained Professional Development Materials Support Administrative and Community Support Assessment and Evaluation

10. High Quality Curriculum • Developmentally Appropriate • Researched Based • Leads to a “big idea” in Science • Balanced -Physical -Earth -Life • 3-4 Units Per Year

11. High Quality Curriculum Middle School

12. High Quality Curriculum Provides Opportunities to: Explore Investigate Inquire Question Test Hypothesis Collect Data Analyze Data

13. Sustained Professional Development • University Level - Preservice • School District Level-Inservice Initial Training Advanced Training Lesson Study Groups Institutes Debriefing • In-classroom Support • Leadership • Advanced Degrees

14. Context Critical Issues Knowledge & Beliefs 15 Strategies Professional Development Design Set Goals Plan Do Reflect Loucks-Horsley (1998)

15. Sustained Professional Development School-Based Professional Development

16. Lesson Study • Focus on lesson • Design • Implementation • Content • Culture

17. School District Level In-Service • Lesson Lab

18. Lessonlab/Lesson Study • Reflective Teaching Practices

19. School District Level Inservice • Leadership Training

20. Materials Support • SMRC • VIPS Offices • Training Center • Materials Center

21. Materials Support • Training Center -University Classes -District Inservice

22. Materials Support • Materials Center -Order -Manufacture -Inventory -Refurbish -Deliver • Cost Sharing

23. Materials Support • Materials Center Staffing • Director • 2 Media Technicians • Administrative Clerk

24. Administrative and Community Support • Vertical Team • Administrative Training • Science Volunteers • Parent Education • Periodicals

25. Administrative and Community Support • Vertical Team • Superintendents • Central Office • Curriculum and Instruction • Business Services • Principals • Science Director • Business and Industry • University • Decisions by Consensus

26. Administrative and Community Support • Administrator Training -Content -Pedagogy -Classroom Supervision -Teacher Evaluation -Assessment

27. Administrative and Community Support • Volunteer Scientists • Recruitment Strategies

28. Administrative and Community Support • Volunteer Scientists in El Centro come from • Cal Tech • Agriculture • Veterinarians • Pharmacists • El Centro Regional Medical Center • San Diego State University • University of California • Water and Power Company • El Centro Naval Air Station • Union Pacific Mining

29. Administrative and Community Support • Science Volunteers • Training

30. Administrative and Community Support • Periodicals

31. Administrative and Community Support • Parent Education • Family Science Nights • School Board Meetings

32. Assessment and Evaluation • Performance Tasks/Products • Standardized Tests • Notebooks

33. Evidence • SAT 9 • TIMSS Released Science • Science-Literacy Connections • Science-Mathematics Connections

35. Assessment and Evaluation • Stanford Achievement Test: Science Scores 1998-99 NPR Gr4 Gr6 # Tested 630 638 Mean NPR 36 40 Participating 43 49 n=393 n=358 Non-Participating 25 31 n=237 n=280

36. Assessment and Evaluation • Stanford Achievement Test: Science Scores 1998-99 NPR - Sorted by Years in Program Years Gr4 Gr6 CUM 36 40 0 21 27 n=137 n=174 1 32 32 n =150 n=121 2 38 42 n=141 n=132 3 47 50 n=111 n=107 4 53 64 n=91 n=104

37. Student Achievement

38. Student Achievement

39. Assessment and Evaluation • TIMSS Released Multiple Choice: Science Scores 2000-2001 Mean Raw Scores- Sorted by Years in Program Years Gr7 Gr8 Gr7/8 CUM 9.4 11.1 10.2 0 8.7 10.0 9.5 n=48 n=107 n=155 1 8.9 10.5 9.7 n =136 n=103 n=239 2 9.0 10.7 9.8 n=168 n=112 n=280 3 10.4 11.1 10.7 n=125 n=90 n=215 4 11.0 13.3 12.7 n=84 n=93 n=177 p<.023 p<.001 p<.01

40. Assessment and Evaluation • TIMSS Released Multiple Choice: Science Scores 2000-2001 Mean Raw Scores- Sorted by Units Completed Grade 7 Mean SD High (4+ units) 10.335 3.998 Low (3 or less units) 8.892 3.435 p<.001 Grade 8 High (4+ units) 12.137 4.319 Low (3 or less units) 10.558 3.551 p<.001

41. UC Eligibility Rate for Underrepresented Students

42. For additional information on this research Amaral, O., Garrison, L. and Klentschy, M. (Summer 2002). Helping english learners increase achievement through inquiry-based science instruction. Bilingual Research Journal, 26:2, 213-239. http://brj.asu.edu/content/vol26_no2/pdf/ART2.PDF

43. Construction Construction

44. Science/Literacy Chapter 10 Focus on: - Coherence - Context - “Real World” Experiences

45. Coherent Instruction… is teaching that connects. It connects the student’s reading skills to writing. It connects reading and writing to content. It links content learning to student interests. Coherent teaching makes it easy for students to learn because it combines the strange-new with the familiar-old. When the classroom is coherent, teachers help students make connections among reading, writing and content. (Guthrie, 2000)

46. Evidence from Imperial County, California • Stanford Achievement Test: Reading Scores 1998-99 NPR – Grade 4 Sorted by Years in Program Years LEP EO CUM = 33 0 21 30 1 22 39 2 39 51 3 34 57 4 49 64

47. Evidence from Imperial County, California • Stanford Achievement Test: Reading Scores 1998-99 NPR – Grade 6 Sorted by Years in Program Years LEP EO CUM = 40 0 23 38 1 28 42 2 34 46 3 35 56 4 51 69

48. Evidence from Fresno, California • Stanford Achievement Test: Reading Scores • Study found that students who received 4 years of exposure to a systemic science program (1998-2001) scored significantly higher on the SAT 9 Reading subtest compared to students who did not receive the science instruction • Opportunity to learn in the systemic science program produced achievement results that closed the reading achievement gap between ethnic groups • In all cases, a positive relationship was found between the number of years of participation in the systemic science program and SAT 9 Reading Score gains

49. Evidence from Dade County, Florida • Stanford Achievement Test: Reading Scores 1996 • Study found that students ( n = 2420) in grades 3 and 5 who received instruction in a systemic science program (1996) scored significantly higher (10 percentile points in both grade levels) on the SAT 9 Reading subtest compared to students (n = 4145) who did not receive the systemic science instruction. • The same students also scored significantly higher (11 and 14 percentile points) in Mathematics Application on the same SAT 9 test.

50. Science - Literacy • Notebooks