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STRENGTHENING
SCIENCE EDUCATIONTHE POWER OF MORE TIMETO DEEPEN INQUIRY AND ENGAGEMENT
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“Without fundamentally
restructuring the schoolcalendar—particularly at
the elementary and middle
school levels—to add morelearning time, and then
prioritizing science during
that time, most American
students will simply not
become either proficient in,
or excited about, science.”
–from Strengthening Science Education
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SCIENCE EDUCATION AND THE CALL FOR MORE TIME p03
Ca ud
MATTHEw KUSS MIDDLE SCHOOL, FALL RIvER, MASSACHUSETTS p12THURgOOD MARSHALL ACADEMy LOwER SCHOOL, NEw yORK, NEw yORK p22 EDITH I. STARKE AND pIERSON ELEMENTARy SCHOOLS, vOLUSIA COUNTy, FLORIDA p
32JANE LONg MIDDLE SCHOOL, HOUSTON, TExAS p42
KEy FINDINgS AND THE pROMISE OF MORE TIME p52
nghnng CnC duCan
THE pOwER OF MORE TIME TO DEEpEN INqUIRy AND ENgAgEMENT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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2 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
For man oun
eole, interest andsuccess in science
ill turn out to be
a catalst for their
enaement in
school oerall.
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Children are natural elorers, builders, and inentors.
The are curious about ho the orld orks and loe to
et their hands dirt attemtin to nd out. Research
tells us that science education should build on children’s
innate curiosit—eandin their scientic knolede
and enaement oer time as the eamine objects, desin
and analze inestiations, collect data, and discuss and
defend their ideas. For man oun eole, interest and
success in science ill turn out to be a catalst for their
enaement in school oerall.
There is little doubt, hoeer, that science education in
most American ublic schools is not ood enouh—either
at buildin science rocienc or enain children in
science. Outcomes on national and international science
assessments indicate student rocienc is relatiel lo
and has remained at for a decade, hile collee students
majorin in science or enineerin make u a relatiel
small roortion of all students.1 Not surrisinl, the
undererformance and lack of interest of U.S. studentsin science has alarmed educators, olicmakers, and
ciic leaders.
Concerns about the ualit of science education doetail
ith an oerall sense that American ublic schools are
not adeuatel rearin students—articularl lo-
income, immirant, and minorit students—to face
the challenes of tomorro. An increasin number of
education stakeholders are focusin on the issue of
learnin time as one ke inredient in the effort to imroe
student outcomes. The beliee that the traditional school
calendar of 180 si-hour das er ear is too short to enable
all students to meet risin eectations for academicerformance and also receie a ell-rounded education.
Education reformers are joinin a roin moement in
our countr to etend the school da—either b addin
hours each da or addin das to the school ear—ith
the understandin that more time ill brin more
oortunities for learnin.
The drie to eand learnin time holds articular
romise for imroin science education. In recent ears,
due to increased accountabilit for math and readin
achieement, the amount of time deoted to science
instruction in ublic elementar and middle schools has
dindled, makin it more difcult to delier the te
of riorous, inuir-based teachin and learnin that is
needed to set our oun eole on the ath to become
the net eneration of scientists, inentors, enineers,
and entrereneurs.
For this stud, the National Center on Time & Learnin
(NCTL) looked closel at e ublic elementar and middle
schools that hae lenthened the school da ith a
secic oal of imroin science instruction. In each of
these schools, leaders, teachers, and students are uttin
the idea of more time for science into ractice. All the
roled schools are mainstream district ublic elementar
or middle schools ith hih-oert student oulations;
most also hae lare numbers of non-natie Enlish
seakers. Toether, these schools offer a limse of hat is
ossible hen schools and districts make science a riorit
and hen the furnish students and teachers ith the
time the need to build dnamic science rorams.
Wanng gn: Laggng PfCnCy and dCLnng
n n CnC
The numbers aint a dismal icture: Just 34 ercent of
fourth raders, 30 ercent of eihth raders, and 21 ercent
of telfth raders scored rocient on the National
Assessment of Educational proress (NAEp) in 2009, and
test scores hae shon little imroement durin the ast
decade. In itself, this situation is troublin; hen stratied
b race and income, the roblem aears orse. while 47ercent of white fourth raders, 45 ercent of Asian fourth
raders, and 48 ercent of non-lo-income fourth raders
scored rocient or hiher in 2009, just 11 ercent of Black
students, 14 ercent of Hisanic students, and 15 ercent
of lo-income students reached that mark.2
On recent international assessments, U.S. students
erformed just aboe the aerae benchmark in
comarison to other countries. Fourth- and eihth-
raders’ erformances on the 2007 Trends in International
Mathematics and Science Stud (TIMSS) shoed no
SCIENCE EDUCATION AND
THE CALL FOR MORE TIME
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4 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
imroement from 1995. 3 On the 2009 proramme for
International Student Assessment (pISA), hich tests
students’ abilit to al hat the hae learned, U.S.
15-ear-olds scored 23rd in science out of 65 countries—
slihtl behind Sloenia, poland, and Hunar, and lain
far behind oerhouses China (Shanhai and Hon Kon
onl), Sinaore, Jaan, Taian, and South Korea.
Lack of science rocienc b hih school raduation has
conseuences alon the education ieline: Onl a third of
bachelor’s derees earned in the United States are ithin
the science, technolo, enineerin, or math (STEM)
discilines, comared ith 51 ercent in Sinaore, 53
ercent in China, and 63 ercent in Jaan.4 Meanhile, the
number of enineerin students in India has skrocketed
oer the last to decades. This trend likel means this
risin Asian nation ill eceed the U.S. ercentae of STEM
majors soon, as ell.5 yet, the Bureau of Labor Statistics
rojects that the number of science and enineerin jobs
ill ro b 21.4 ercent beteen 2006 and 2016, nearl
double the rojected roth rate of 10.4 ercent for all
occuations durin the same time eriod.6
women and eole of color continue to be under-
reresented in ell-ain, secure STEM jobs. Reresentin
about half of the oerall U.S. oulation, omen made u
just 27 ercent of the science and enineerin orkforce
in 2007. African Americans, Latinos, and other under-
reresented minorities, ho toether constitute 24 ercent
of the U.S. oulation, reresent 10 ercent of science and
enineerin rofessionals ith a collee deree. Durin
the three decades recedin 2007, the ercentae ofAfrican Americans and Latinos in non-academic science and
enineerin jobs inched from three to e ercent, and
from to to four ercent, resectiel. 7
These trends hae been noted b eerone from president
Obama to America’s riate sector leadershi, from
national science oranizations to teachers and arents
across the countr. There is idesread orr that
America’s declinin science rocienc threatens national
economic cometitieness and our abilit to sole ressin
roblems in the ener, ublic health, and enironmental
sectors. when eole do not understand scientic issues,
the cannot make ell-informed decisions as oters,consumers, or arents. when subjected to inadeuate and
uninsirin science education, man oun eole ill
neer discoer that science can be the sark that fuels
their interest and success in school. Man disadantaed
students ill neer realize that a career in the sciences is a
ossibilit for them, and such a career means a a out of
oert and a stead ath toard a more romisin future.
dmnhng CnC m n ChL
At just the moment hen science education is reachin
a crisis, the dedication of ublic schools to teachin the
subject is declinin, for the simle reason that science has
been eded out as a riorit. Since the No Child Left Behind
(NCLB) leislation bean to hold schools accountablefor Enlish and math scores nearl a decade ao, time
on science in man American elementar schools has
sinicantl decreased. In one sure, school districts
reorted that since 2002, the hae decreased instructional
time for science from an aerae of 3.76 hours er eek to
2.53 hours. The aerae decrease for science as
75 minutes er eek, or a 33 ercent dro from the
re-NCLB leel.8
A recent analsis of 2007-2008 Schools and Stafn Sure
(SASS) data found that traditional ublic elementar
schools ithout etended da schedules send an aerae
of 2.57 hours er eek on science in the third rade.9
There is idesread orr
that America’s declinin
science rocienc
threatens national
economic cometitieness
and our abilit to soleressin roblems in the
ener, ublic health, and
enironmental sectors.
Some local data sources indicate that some districts are
fallin far short of roidin een to hours of science er
eek for their elementar-ae students. On a 2007 sure
of San Francisco Ba Area schools b the Larence Hall
of Science, 80 ercent of K-fth rade multile-subjectteachers ho are resonsible for teachin science in their
classrooms reorted sendin 60 minutes or less er eek
on science, and 16 ercent of these teachers reorted
sendin no time at all on science.10 The Boston public
Schools science director recentl told the Boston Globe:
“we hae schools here kids onl hae the oortunit
for science 30 to 60 minutes a eek, and e kno that’s
not enouh. Unless there’s accountabilit, it’s not reall
oin to haen because somethin else is alas oin
to take riorit.’’11
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nanaL Lad and CnC duCa
mbLz f Chang
At the national leel, there are sins of a sinicant ne
focus on science education. In Noember 2009, president
Obama announced the Educate to Innovate camain, ith
the oals of increasin the STEM literac of all students;moin American students from the middle of the ack to
the to in the net decade; and eandin STEM education
and career oortunities for under-reresented rous,
includin omen and irls. The camain has announced
seeral hih-role stes, includin the creation of the
National Lab Netork and the white House Science Fair.
The administration also has endorsed the formation of
Chane the Euation, a non-rot oranization focused
on increasin the imact of business suort for better
STEM education.
Additionall, the science education communit is
deeloin ne standards and assessments to reect
recent research on student learnin and ndins from
studies of chanin orkforce needs. In 2011, the National
Research Council (NRC), in collaboration ith the American
Association for the Adancement of Science, Achiee, Inc.,
and the National Science Teachers Association, released
Framework for Next Generation Science Standards , hich
is more inclusie of technolo and enineerin than rior
standards, and includes a more interated ision of all four
STEM elds. Throuh a rocess bein manaed b Achiee,
Inc., an indeendent, education reform oranization that
hels states raise academic standards, the states are usin
this document as the basis for the joint deelomentof a sinle set of ne K-12 science education standards,
slated for comletion b 2013. while each state ill
decide hether or not to adot the ne standards, the
ill roide a solid foundation for the imroement of
science education. (Alread, 18 states reuire assin the
state’s science eam as a reuirement for raduation.12)
The National Assessment goernin Board (NAgB) also has
deeloed ne frameorks for the NAEp in science and
mathematics, as ell as technolo and enineerin, so
that startin in 2014, students ill be assessed in all four
STEM elds nationide.
These endeaors, alon ith related efforts to deelocurriculum materials and rofessional deeloment
rorams, round their aroach in the seminal science
education research ublished b the NRC in 2007. The NRC
reort Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching
Science in Grades K-8 alied knolede from conitie
science, deelomental scholo, education research,
the histor of science, and other elds to snthesize hat
is knon about ho children in rades K-8 enae in
science learnin.13 The NRC folloed u ith a 2008 reort
Ready, Set, Science! Putting Research to Work in K-8 Science
Classrooms , hich focused on ensurin that
Taking Science to School as accessible to science
education ractitioners.
Ready, Set, Science! asserts: “[g]ood science teachin
reuires (1) etensie teacher knolede, (2) ecellent
curricula, (3) effectie sstems of suort and assessment,
and (4) more time and attention than are currentl deotedto it.”14 The efforts of the Obama Administration and the
science education communit detailed aboe romise to
o a lon a toard helin American schools fulll the
rst three reuirements for ood science teachin. To meet
the fourth reuirement—more time—schools ma need to
eand the connes of the traditional school da and ear.
Why b CnC duCan WLL ak m m
Accordin to both NRC reorts, the teachin of science
should be modeled on ho scientists actuall conduct
scientic inuir, and this aroach ill necessitate a shift
in the traditional methods emloed in science education.
No loner should science in classrooms be about merel
the delier of information, but also about analzin,
alin, and reconurin that information. Students
must learn not just scientic content, but also aboutscientic rocess. Further, content and rocess cannot be
diorced from each other, but rather should be treated as
an interated hole, like real scientists do.
As an alternatie to the customar aroach, the authors
of these reorts resent four interlinked “learnin strands
that toether encomass the knolede and reasonin
skills that students eentuall must acuire to be
considered rocient in science.” (See bo on . 6.)
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6 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
fu and f CnC Lanng
1. Know, use, and interpret scientic explanations of
the natural world: Students must learn the facts,
concets, rinciles, las, theories, and models
of science. This strand centers on science content,
concets, and the links beteen them—and alsoemhasizes students’ abilit to use and al their
knolede.
2. Generate and evaluate scientic evidence and
explanations: Students should acuire the
knolede and skills to build and rene models and
elanations, desin and analze inestiations, and
construct and defend aruments ith eidence.
3. Understand the nature and development of
scientic knowledge: Science should be understood
as a a of knoin, and students must reconize
that redictions or elanations can be reised onthe basis of ne eidence, learnin ne facts, or
deeloin a ne model.
4. Participate productively in scientic practices
and discourse: Reconizin that science is a
social enterrise, students should become skillful
articiants in a scientic communit in the
classroom, master roductie as of reresentin
ideas, use scientic tools, and interact ith eers
about science.15
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In the real orld of classrooms, hoeer, these four
strands are rarel found realized in full. Instead, ressed
for time, science teachers often focus on the content facets
of Strand 1 , roidin students sinicant uantities of
information on a ide rane of toics, but ith insufcient
attention aid to ensurin students kno ho to al
their knolede. As for hain students enerate their onscientic data and then analze their meanin—the oals
of Strand 2—man elementar teachers, in articular, do
not hae the trainin, skills, or time to allo students the
oortunit to elore henomena on their on; instead,
the conne their Strand 2 actiities to eeriments ith
redetermined stes and results. Teachers’ focus on
Strand 3 is similarl inadeuate because content tends to
be resented in re-ackaed sniets, iin students
little chance to cateorize and manae those facts on their
on. Finall, Strand 4 , hich reuires that students ork in
rous and react to each others’ contributions in achiein
shared understandin, “is often comletel oerlooked b
educators, et research indicates it is a critical comonent
of science learnin, articularl for students from
oulations underreresented in science.”16
Throuhout this aer, e use these learnin strands as
a lens throuh hich to ie and sotliht hih-ualit
aroaches to science teachin in the roled schools.
Such a aradim does not suest that these schools
are oertl desinin their methods around the learnin
strands or that educators there necessaril concetualize
the ideal imained b the four strands. Instead, the schools
hae taken adantae of eanded science time to oen u
more oortunities for a broader aroach toard scienceeducation and, throuh this broader aroach, the hae
been able to ta their instincts as educators and interate
asects of the four strands in their teachin of science.
In art, the more limited aroach to the a science
education is conentionall racticed in the United States
arises from the fact that tical state (and district) learnin
standards rioritize content knolede aboe alication
of knolede. Indeed, Taking Science to School and Ready,
Set, Science! roose a fundamental reoranization of
K-8 science curricula to center around a dened set of
core scientic concets, creatin learnin roressions
that build students’ understandin and knolede ofeach concet oer time. This reoranization is reected
in the suortin document for the deeloment of
the Framework for Next Generation Science Standards.
whether or not districts and schools restructure their
curricula accordin to these recommendations, masterin
all four strands and raisin science rocienc amon
elementar and middle school students ill likel demand
(a) more instructional time to teach and learn science and
(b) more time to build teachers’ caacit to educate their
students in accordance ith the four strands.
h PnaL f PanhP nCa udn
ngagmn and CmPnC n CnC
A Setember 2010 reort b the president’s Council of
Adisors on Science and Technolo addressin as to
imroe K-12 STEM education ointed out that raisin
STEM rocienc is onl half the battle—insirin ouneole to learn STEM and ursue STEM careers is just as
imortant.17 An oft-cited 2006 stud b Uniersit of virinia
Associate professor Robert Tai and colleaues found that
interest in science as a more imortant factor than
rocienc for redictin hich middle-school students
ould ultimatel earn science derees in collee.18
Science learnin desined and led b science centers,
museums, and communit-based oranizations—often
called “informal science education”—can be articularl
effectie in increasin students’ science knolede and
enaement. In 2009, the National Research Council
ublished Learning Science in Informal Environments:
People, Places and Pursuits. Declarin that “across all
enues—eerda eeriences, desined settins, and
rorams—indiiduals of all aes learn science,” the
Committee on Learning Science in Informal Environments
offered to additional learnin strands in science. These
strands are articularl releant to informal science
learnin, and bookend the four that ere dened b their
colleaues in Taking Science to School. The committee
added a rst strand focused on eeriencin ecitement,
interest, and motiation to learn about henomena in
the natural and hsical orld, and a nal strand that
encouraes eerone to think about themseles as sciencelearners and to deelo an identit as someone ho knos
about, uses, and sometimes contributes to science.19
To more recent reorts—Surrounded by Science
(NRC’s 2010 follo-u to Learning Science in Informal
Environments) and Making Science Matter , a 2010
reort b the Center for the Adancement of Informal
Science Education (CAISE)—elore the otential of
collaborations amon science institutions, communit-
based oranizations, and schools to offer enain,
comrehensie science learnin eeriences to
oun eole.20
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8 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
Analzin a set of eemlar collaborations, Making
Science Matter asserts that “formal-informal”
collaborations can be a oerful strate for makin
science learnin more accessible and comellin to oun
eole b:
• Adancin students’ concetual understandin inscience;
• Imroin students’ school achieement and
attainment;
• Strenthenin students’ ositie disositions toards
science;
• Adancin teachers’ concetual understandin in
science; and
• Suortin teachers’ interation of inuir and ne
materials in the classroom.
Accordin to the authors, formal-informal collaborations
are imortant because the emerin ision of scientic
literac “inoles a rich arra of concetual understandin,
as of thinkin, caacities to use scientic knolede
for ersonal and social uroses, and an understandin
of the meanin and releance of science to eerda life”
that no sinle sector can roide b itself. Formal-informal
collaborations can enrich and connect children’s aried
learnin eeriences across time and settins, articularl
for hih-oert schools that tend to be “under-resourced,
tet-based, and test-drien.”
The reort notes that “formal-informal collaborations take
sinicant time and ener, often unacknoleded b
sonsors of the ork, and are a continuin but aluable
rocess of eolution for indiiduals and institutions.”21
Such an aroach to science education, hich blends
the best of classroom and informal learnin in school,
has the otential to be both riorous and enain, build
cometence and condence, and inole all oun eole,
reardless of their abilit to enroll in additional learnin
oortunities beond school. Sinicantl, for man
schools, enain in these artnershis at the leel of
deth reuired to roduce the student outcomes desired is
not ossible ithin the connes of the reular da.
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an f h udy:
h nd f addnaL mdL
while education leaders and olicmakers are makin
stead roress in establishin ne uidelines and
frameorks that ill romote effectie science learnin,
most school leaders still need more information about theractical as the can strenthen and eand science
education in their on schools.
Such a need is eer reater no that more schools
are eandin (or seekin to eand) learnin time.
The U.S. Deartment of Education has funded rouhl
1,150 schools to increase learnin time as art of the
School Imroement grant (SIg) roram. In states like
Massachusetts and Colorado, and districts from Houston
to pittsburh to Ne Orleans, there are initiaties and
schools that hae built in sinicantl more time for the
eress urose of enhancin teachin and learnin.
Schools hae eanded their schedules in order to
eand learnin oortunities in core academic classes
and roide sulemental academic content, broaden
educational offerins throuh enrichment rorammin,
and strenthen instructional ualit b enablin increased
teacher collaboration and rofessional deeloment.
Moreoer, there is also considerable suort from
the Obama Administration and amon Conressional
education leaders for ensurin that the reauthorization
of the Elementar and Secondar Education Act (ESEA)
includes resources and a olic frameork for increasin
learnin time in hih-oert, lo-erformin schoolsacross the countr.22
yet, desite this mountin drie to eand time and a
deeenin understandin of its man benets, educators
are onl just beinnin to access information about ho to
best leerae additional time to suort student learnin.
Because the imlementation of ne standards and
accountabilit throuh No Child Left Behind has focused
on Enlish and math, the eld of science education is in
articular need of additional research, eseciall as more
states moe to enact hih standards and accountabilit
in science. This stud seres as a rst attemt to ll a
comellin need for more models of effectie eanded-time science rorammin.
udy mhdLgy
For this reort, NCTL chose to stud e schools that
hae eanded their schedules ith a oal of imroin
science instruction. we use case studies of these schools to
elore the folloin uestions:
• Ho did additional time enable school leaders
and teachers to chane their aroach to science
instruction? what ne oortunities hae the found?
• what results are the seein?
• Has student enaement in science and knolede
about science careers increased alon ith standardized
test scores?
• what unforeseen challenes are the schools
encounterin, and ho are teachers and leaders
dealin ith them?
• what recommendations do these school leaders
and teachers hae for other educators currentl
considerin eandin their schedules to deote
more time to science?
The eanded-time schools included in this stud look
er different from one another. There is a mi of urban
and rural schools, and the rane in size from 204 to 773
students. Three are elementar schools (rades K-5), and
to are middle schools (rades 6-8). Desite the rane of
sizes, locations, and aroaches to increasin learnintime, all e eanded-time schools hae majorit hih-
oert student oulations, and seeral hae sinicant
rous of students hose rst lanuae is not Enlish.
More imortantl, students in all but one of the roled
schools hae demonstrated ains in rocienc on science
assessments, a ke criterion e used for inclusion in the
stud. (The eanded-time roram at the fth school had
been in oeration less than one ear, and thus, did not
et hae state outcomes data; formatie assessment data
ere aailable.) The schools eamined are:
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10 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
• MatthewKussMiddleSchoolin Fall Rier,
Massachusetts, articiatin in the state-suorted
Massachusetts Eanded Learnin Time Initiatie
• ThurgoodMarshallAcademyLowerSchool , a Ne
york Cit elementar school imlementin a 2.5-hour
etended da aailable for all students, in artnershiith the Abssinian Deeloment Cororation. The
After-School Cororation—in collaboration ith
Ne york Cit public Schools and the Deartment of
Communit and youth Deeloment—suorts the
TMALS-Abssinian artnershi as a art of its EandEd
schools initiatie
• EdithStarkeElementaryandPiersonElementary in
volusia Count, Florida—art of a district-led, and Title-I
funded, effort to lenthen the school da b one hour in
tareted Title I schools
• JaneLongMiddleSchoolin Houston, Teas, hich
eanded its school da for sith raders onl, usin
a mi of school funds, eternal rants, and resources
raised b the school’s non-rot artner, Citizen Schools
To roduce this reort, its lead author and the senior
researcher of NCTL enaed in etensie backround
research, isited each of the schools, interieed students,
teachers, administrators, district ersonnel, staff, and
leadershi of eternal artner oranizations, and also
conducted follo-u interies. The research teamobsered science classes and electies usin a modied
ersion of the “2005-2006 Local Sstemic Chane Classroom
Obseration protocol” deeloed b Horizon Research, Inc.
The folloin four chaters take a close look at each of
these schools and roide man rst-hand accounts of
the science education oals and da-to-da rorammin
elements at each school. Not surrisinl, man chanes—
both lare and small—hae taken lace at these schools
since the data ere collected. The case studies are ritten
ith information collected at the time of the site isit. In
cases here sinicant chanes hae taken lace since
srin 2011, udated information is aended at theconclusion of the stud.
while the schools each use time er differentl, the
folloin ke successful ractices emered across all
e schools:
1) Increasin students’ science enaement and
rocienc b:
• interatin more hands-on learnin actiities and
facilitatin more scientic discourse ithin the
classroom;
• imlementin secic strateies to counter
deciencies in readin leels, backround contet, and
ocabular; and
• enrichin the core science content and creatin
connections to science careers and role models
throuh formal and informal collaborations ith
outside artners.
2) Strenthenin teachers’ caacit to imlement an
enhanced science roram b:
• roidin rofessional deeloment focused on
imroin content knolede and edaoical skill;
• usin student assessment data to drie instructional
imroement; and
• ensurin that core science curricula are uniform
across classrooms and maed to district and state
standards and assessments.
In the nal chater of this reort, e elore these cross-
cuttin themes and ractices, as ell as describe seeral
ke success factors and the on-oin challenes the
schools face, as the ork to sustain and strenthen the
ains the hae made in science education.
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11SCIENCE EDUCATION AND THE CALL FOR MORE TIME |
CASE STUDIES
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12 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
“In suortin Eanded LearninTime, Kuss arents took a lea of
faith. No there is a consensus that
ELT is hain a dee, ositie imact
on the school and our students.”
NancyMullen,Principal,MatthewKussMiddleSchoolFallRiver,Massachusetts
MATTHEw KUSS
MIDDLE SCHOOLFALL RIvER, MASSACHUSETTS
Poster-sie pictres o stets coer te ric wlls o
te cle, spcios rst-oor llw o mttew kss
mile cool i fll ier, msscsetts. youn faces
ash infectious smiles as the accet trohies, erform in a
la, or aim a erce kick at a soccer ball. One student looksdon, readin in studied concentration, hile another jots
notations in an oen notebook as her artner eers into a
microscoe. The ictures communicate jo, ride, friendshi,
ork, and accomlishment—embodin the culture of the
Kuss communit.
This communit has come a lon a since 2004, hen, still
in its former, rundon buildin, Kuss as the rst school
in the state branded “chronicall undererformin” b the
Massachusetts Deartment of Elementar and Secondar
Education. Strulin ith hih truanc, under-enrollment,
and unsustainable leels of staff turnoer, the school’s
condition as smtomatic of Fall Rier’s decades-lon
economic decline. An industrial oerhouse in the earl
art of the 20th centur as the center of
tetile manufacturin in the U.S., Fall Rier has
struled to reain its former roserit sincethe manufacturin comanies relocated to
the South and eentuall oerseas. More than
80 ercent of the 650 students at Kuss are lo-
income, comared to 34 ercent across
the state.
WhyExpandedLearningTimeand
WhyScience?
Nanc Mullen as aointed rincial of Kuss
in the summer of 2005. Almost immediatel
after arriin, Mullen led her staff in alin to
join the rst cohort of Eanded Learnin Time
(ELT) schools under the ne Massachusetts initiatie. Thelanned the school redesin oer the course of the 2005-06
school ear.
In Setember 2006, Kuss oened ith an eiht-hour school
da for all students and teachers (about 100 minutes
more er da than the re-ELT schedule). Since then,
ELT has roed to be a oerful catalst to accelerate
student academic achieement and create a ell-rounded
education and enrichment roram that increased student
enaement and attendance. In 2009, hen Kuss moed to
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its ne buildin erched on a hillto oerlookin Mount
Hoe Ba, its academic transformation as alread ell
undera. Kuss has made stead achieement ains,
reachin Adeuate yearl proress (Ayp) tarets for the
ast to academic ears. The school no has a aitin list
and is home to the district’s gifted and Talented roram.
From the beinnin of the ELT Initiatie, Mullen sa the
otential to imroe science instruction. Lo rocienc
leels eidenced the need, and the Kuss had ne ener
around science instruction created b its desination in
2005 as a NASA Elorer School. The NASA roram, hich
included teacher rofessional deeloment, student
inolement in simulcasts and “e-missions,” and cross-
rorammin ithin the NASA school netork, attracted a
cohort of talented science teachers to the Kuss.
Said Mullen, “Massachusetts doesn’t count science for Ayp
in middle school, but e consider the eihth-rade science
test scores to be just as imortant as Enlish lanuae
arts and math scores.” The Kuss aroach to imroin
science rocienc is to-fold: eandin and imroin
core academic science time and creatin a set of hands-
on science electies to increase students’ enaement
and knolede. In addition, lannin and rofessional
deeloment time suorts teachers in usin the science
time effectiel.
m m f CnC aChng and Lanng
CoreScienceClass
In resonse to the state’s interention in 2004, Kuss
redesined its schedule to include a 90-minute dail
block of math, science, and Enlish lanuae arts for all
students beinnin in the 2005-06 school ear. with 300additional hours of learnin time beinnin in fall 2006,
Kuss imlemented an innoatie modular schedule so that
each of the 650 students no has an indiidualized schedule
that includes a customized balance of academics and
enrichment.
Said science teacher and 18-ear Kuss eteran Cind
wrobel, “Hain the etra time is aluable. we reinforce
ke concets, and e hae the oortunit to resent them
in different as to meet the dierse needs of students.”
Continued wrobel, “Our students lack role models, and
enerall lack oortunit and eosure to ne eeriences
and different laces. ELT ies us the oortunit to roide
the uidance and nurturin our students need.”
Oer the ast si ears, the science facult has alined
the curricula to the state science standards, hich Math/
Science Deartment Chair Ken ward onl half-jokinl
referred to as “the bible.” The facult team is no orkin
ith the other Fall Rier middle schools and the elementar
schools on erticall alinin the K-12 curricula, deeloin
uniform interim assessments across the district, and
comletin an analsis of an as beteen the curricula
and the standards.
ward, ho has been teachin at Kuss for more than 30
ears, described the imact of additional time on science
instruction: “The eanded time has alloed us to interate
more rior into teachin and learnin. we can o more in-
deth and ask more comle uestions of the students. we
hae the time to reuire not just the anser but the h
behind the anser—e teach students ho to resent their
eidence, and e hel them to make better connections
amon scientic concets. we can take the time no to
make sure eerthin is resonatin.”
In 2008, Kuss educators identied imroed ritin
skills as an academic riorit across rades and subjects.Students demonstrated a distinct eakness in achiein
rocienc in “oen resonse” uestions (multi-ararah
essas on state standardized tests). No, eer class in
the school, includin science, interates ritin into the
curriculum and dislas eemlar student oen resonses
ith arsed elanations of ho the author ould hae
receied a four: the hihest oen resonse score on state
eams. Science teacher Sarah Chain ae details: “Kids are
ritin and editin their ork as a rou, ith their eers.
The are constantl oin throuh the rocess of ritin,
editin, and reision as art of the science class. we deote
additional time to this riorit.”
mttew kss mile cool tet rops
2010-2011
Qualify for free/reduced lunch 82%
First Language Not English 23%
Special Education 18%
MCAS: Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System
The science MCAS is rst administered in fth grade. The eighth-grade
science test, which covers science material taught in sixth through eighth
grades, does not impact a school’s AYP or an individual student’s grade
promotion. Passing one tenth-grade science MCAS (Biology, Chemistry,
Introductory Physics, or Technology/Engineering) is required for high school
graduation in Massachusetts.
MATTHEw KUSS MIDDLE SCHOOL | 13
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14 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
h maaChu xPandd Lanng m (L)
nav
Massachusetts is the onl state that has imlemented a
ublicl-funded, stateide Eanded Learnin Time (ELT)
Initiatie. Folloin a lannin ear, an oriinal cohort
of ten schools (includin Matthe Kuss Middle School inFall Rier) oened as ELT schools in fall 2006. The roram
has eanded to 19 ublic schools serin a total of 10,500
students in nine districts. The schools receie $1,300 er
student from the state Deartment of Elementar and
Secondar Education (DESE) to eand instructional
time b a minimum of 300 hours er ear. Encouraed b
DESE to comletel redesin their school da from the
round u, these schools are reuired to add time for core
academics, enrichment courses, and teacher lannin
alon ith rofessional deeloment.
The Massachusetts ELT Initiatie is based on these
uidin rinciles:
• iictl more hors o Leri or er tet
—Each articiatin school adds 300 hours oer the
course of the school ear. This time can be added in the
form of loner school das or additional das in the
school ear, but eer student must articiate.
• Coplete cool eesi—Each articiatin school
aims to comletel redesin its educational roram
tied to student needs, student oals, and a clear, school-
ide academic focus.
• blce use o aitiol ie—Additional time must
be distributed in three ke areas: (1) core academics, (2)
enrichment oortunities, and (3) teacher lannin and
rofessional deeloment.
• Copetitio or tte fi—Alin districts and
a subset of their schools must: (1) hae comleted a
riorous lannin rocess, (2) deeloed a hih-ualit
ELT roosal, and (3) be able to roe that the hae thecaacit for successful imlementation.
• fleiilit otio—particiatin schools
and districts hae the eibilit to create their on
redesin aroach, includin oals, stafn lans,
labor areements, comensation, and schedules.
This eibilit is intended to sur innoation and has
resulted in a ide rane of aroaches to the comle
challenes of addin time.
• clsie Pli Process Prior to pleettio—
Schools are encouraed to include dierse stakeholders,
eseciall teachers and arents, in a comrehensie
lannin and redesin rocess oer the course of a
full ear so the can deelo hiher ualit roosals
and hae reater success hen imlementin the
eanded-time schedule.
• terl Prtersips to ce cool eesi—
preference is afforded to schools that include
artnershis in arious asects of the educational
roram, because eternal artners can contribute
eertise and resources that schools ma not hae
hen orkin alone. partners can include uniersities,
communit-based oranizations, health centers,businesses, artists, and man others.
• accotilit or eslts—Each ELT school has
deeloed a three-ear erformance areement ith
the state, settin achieement oals across a number of
areas. In addition, the U.S. Deartment of Education is
fundin a si-ear ealuation of the Initiatie.
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nav uL
After four ears, Massachusetts ELT schools are
demonstratin the imact more time can hae.
An ealuation shoed in 2010 that, comared to
other hih-oert schools and to a set of matched
comarison schools, ELT schools are more likel tobe hih-roth schools. (Hih-roth schools are those
here hih-oert students are learnin far faster
than eected.) There is a fair deree of ariation in
both imlementation and outcomes amon the 19
schools, but there are some standout erformers,
eseciall for those that hae been in the roram
the lonest.23 Fourth-ear schools sinicantl outerform
their matched comarison schools in fth-rade science,
the tested subject here ELT schools roide sinicantl
more time than the matched schools.
Fourth-ear schoolssinicantl outerform
their matched comarison
schools in fth-rade science,
the tested subject here
ELT schools roide
sinicantl more time thanthe matched schools.
As for outcomes not related to test results, a statisticall
sinicant hiher roortion of teachers in ELT schools
reorted that the are satised ith the amount of time
aailable for instruction in Enlish lanuae arts, math,
and eseciall science and social studies than those in
the matched comarison. Students in ELT schools also
reorted that the ere able to choose actiities not
reiousl aailable.
abu maaChu 2020
(State Afliate of National Center on Time & Learning)
Since 2006, Massachusetts 2020 has roided technical
assistance to suort the lannin, imlementation, and
continuous imroement of the Eanded Learnin Time
Initiatie at articiatin schools across the state. Thisassistance includes:
• Deeloin and leadin bi-monthl conenins here
ELT school and district leadershi teams receie in-
deth, tareted assistance on toics related to effectie
ELT imlementation;
• proidin monthl school-leel coachin and assistance
to a subset of ELT schools, in artnershi ith Focus on
Results, a national oranization that roides in-deth
technical assistance to schools aimed at imroin
student outcomes;
• Coordinatin eriodic school isits for ELT schools to see
effectie eanded-time ractices in action;
• Facilitatin netorkin and cross-school sharin
oortunities for current ELT schools and those
interested in learnin more about eanded time
models;
• Adocatin at the state and national leels for fundin
and to build suort for ELT;
• proidin research and analtical suort, articularlaround identifin effectie ractices and emerin
models; and
• Facilitatin and suortin ELT schools in creatin
artnershis ith eternal oranizations to enhance
teachin and learnin in multile as, includin
roidin enrichment rorammin, teacher
rofessional deeloment, or in-deth academic
content. In 2008, Massachusetts 2020 created the ELT
School-Communit grant proram to roide additional
suort to eemlar school-communit artnershis.
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16 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
mttew J. kss mile cool 2010-2011
Number of Students: 650
Grades: 6 – 8
Students Participating in
the Expanded Day: 100%
Former Schedule: 7:40 AM – 2:30 PM
Expanded Day Schedule: 7:13 AM – 3:35 PM
Time on Science per Week Core Science:
(pre 2005 redesign): 260 minutes
Expanded Day Time on Core Science:
Science per Week: 450 minutes
Elective Science per week: 90 minutes
mttew kss tet deorpics | 2010-2011
[72%]
[1%]
[16%]
[2%]
[7%][3%]
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17MATTHEw KUSS MIDDLE SCHOOL |
Throuh a artnershi ith the Urban Ecolo Institute
(UEI), Kuss facult members also hae used the eanded
science time to interate eld studies into the core
curricula for eer student. In 2009, Massachusetts 2020
brokered this connection beteen Kuss and UEI, a Boston-
based nonrot dedicated to increasin outh interest in
science and enironmental steardshi throuh hands-on, inuir-based urban ecoloical studies. At the time
the Kuss artnershi bean, UEI had deeloed curricula
and trainin focused on inter ecolo and the harbor
and atershed ecosstems for hih school teachers, and
UEI also as artnerin ith 21st Centur Communit
Learnin Centers and other after-school rorams, but had
not orked directl in middle school classrooms. Lindse
Cotter-Haes, UEI’s Director of Education prorams,
elained, “The er rst ear e started orkin ith
Kuss, the oe our eld studies riht into the core
academic science roram.”
Last ear, UEI as aarded a rant from the Dominion
Foundation to deelo eld studies units for Kuss
focused on the nearb Taunton Rier. UEI is roidin
rofessional deeloment to Kuss science facult on
runnin an outdoor classroom; conductin eld studies
ith rous of students; and teachin the students to
use euiment includin hand-held gpS units and diital
cameras. The studies focus on the health of the Taunton
Rier and its immediate enironment and coer toics
such as ater and soil ualit and the imact of inasie
secies. As art of the chemistr unit, students analze the
H, salinit, coliform, hoshates, and nitrates in ater
from the Taunton Rier and the ocean at hih and lotide. The units are linked to the state standards at rade
leel. One teacher reorted: “Students in m class asked,
ithout romtin, about ho the Braton Street oer
lant affects the rier. The ere concerned about the
temerature of the rier encourain roth of coliform
bacteria, as the didn’t ant the rier to stink. There ere
also numerous comments of ‘I feel like a real scientist’ and
a eneral imroement in behaior and lab skills as the
steed u to the task of usin ‘real science stuff’ and
urin out difcult directions.”
Because Kuss is incororatin these units into the
core science curriculum, eer student in the schoolarticiated in eld studies this ear, for a eriod of
beteen one and four eeks. Cotter-Haes of UEI reeled
in seein the entire Kuss science facult embrace eld
studies. One teacher reorted, “Our eihth-rade class
has been usin the [UEI] curriculum throuhout the ear,
incororatin actiities such as nitroen cclin and food
ebs. These actiities hel to sulement our eistin
curriculum and address reiousl missin standards.
Students reall enjoed the nitroen ccle unit. The could
see ho nitroen moed throuh lants and atmoshere
and animals, sometimes ettin stuck in one articular
loo. This roided them ith a more accurate icture
than the tet, hich makes it seem as if molecules ccle
eerhere at all times.”
Cotter-Haes noted that teachers sa man eamlesof students ith rior behaior and enaement issues
ecellin in the eld studies units. UEI has contracted ith
Lesle Uniersit in Cambride, Massachusetts to formall
ealuate its initiatie, and is elorin the otential of
eandin its artnershi to other Fall Rier schools.
ScienceElectives
In addition to e 90-minute core academic science
eriods, all Kuss students take a 90-minute block of
electie science er eek. Science electies are desined
ith to main oals: 1) taretin as in the standard
curricula or concets that students are hain difcult
rasin and 2) aakenin students’ assion for science
b hain teachers desin and teach electies focused on
their on science interests. Science electies—alon ith
enrichments in erformin arts, sorts, martial arts, and
other areas—are desined seuentiall to build student
master oer time. Teachers are ien lannin time to
desin their electies, hich are maed to the state
science standards.
kss ciece lecties 2010-2011
Design Lab
Duct -Tape EngineeringWeather Watchers
Field Studies (in partnership with the
Urban Ecology Institute)
Project Go-Green!
Astronomy I, II, and III (in partnership with The
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
Forensics
Marine Ecology
Science of the TitanicMosaic of Science
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18 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
Chain teaches the Field Studies electie, hich deles
deeer into the UEI curricula. “ The oortunit to teach
science electies as a bi reason I came here. I ant
to teach the science I am assionate about—hands-on
ecolo.” The electies focus on actie, roject-based
learnin. Science teacher Jamie guile ointed out,
“In science, knolede comes from mistakes, fromarticiation, and from teamork. Electies allo this and
the kids are into it.” All the electies are desined around
the science standards, and coer concets and rinciles
that are tauht in the core science classes.
Said guile, “In seenth-rade science, e coer uniersal
desin and the students build a bride in one of the
hands-on actiities. The Desin Lab electie ies them
the orientation, the foundational knolede for this.” The
teachers also noted the condence and ride dislaed
b those students ho hae built rior knolede of a
scientic concet throuh an electie. “It’s reat hen
the hae condence in their on knolede of science,”
said guile.
Students in Michelle Buress’s project gO green! class make
reccled aer and stud enironmental steardshi.
Buress said, “One of the benets of electies is that
students et to choose them. Sometimes the choose
somethin because a friend did, and the don’t realize ho
much the ill be interested and learn and be enaed.”
In addition to the collaboration ith UEI, Kuss has built
collaborations ith project Oceanolo and the Harard
Smithsonian Center for Astrohsics around scienceelecties.
Project ceolo: Last ear Buress and guile
articiated in Buildin Ne Enland Connections, a to-
da rofessional deeloment institute offered b project
Oceanolo in groton, Connecticut, focused on usin the
atersheds and coastal enironments of Ne Enland as a
contet for learnin science. The institute, funded throuh
the National Oceanic and Atmosheric Administration’s
Ba-watershed Education and Trainin proram, roided
Buress ith content and lesson lans for her Marine
Ecolo electie. guile and Buress subseuentl led the
sith rade on an oerniht tri to project Oceanolohere the articiated in a research roject of coastal
and atershed enironments hich included takin an
oceanorahic research cruise, orkin in a laborator,
and comletin eld studies. Bristol Communit Collee
underrote the cost of the sith-rade tri.
ciece mCa eiew: In the second half of the academic
ear, eihth raders take a 20-eek course hich reies
content on the Science & Technolo MCAS (the state
standardized assessment, hich tests master of the state’s
science standards for rades si throuh eiht). The Kuss
science facult members jointl teach the course, ith the
teacher of each rade leel focusin on the science contenttauht durin that rade. “It hels to hae different teachers
lead the course—eseciall teachers the eihth-raders
hae not had in a hile. It jos their memor for sith-rade
science hen the sith-rade teacher is the one reiein
it. And it makes sense—those are the teachers currentl
teachin that content,” said guile.
m uPP f ung CnC m ffCvLy
Kuss science teachers meet eekl in their rade-leel
rou, and monthl as an entire facult. The share
strateies for oranizin the classroom, facilitatin
student conersation, and desinin actiities, and the
obsere their colleaues at ork. Chain noted, “we
reall ant to be in each other’s classrooms more. we
ant to eeriment ith different teachin aroaches
and obsere ho it orks, to create as to continuousl
imroe.”
Said deartment chair ward, “The additional time has
enabled teachers to meet more freuentl and more
effectiel. Teachers are lookin at data, sharenin their
skills on data analsis, and sharin data ith each other.”As an ELT school, Kuss receies free trainin, throuh
Massachusetts 2020 and Focus on Results, in ho to use
data to drie instructional imroement. princial Nanc
Mullen noted, “One bi ah-ha moment for us as hen
Focus on Results and Massachusetts 2020 ured us to
disla the data rominentl, share it ith kids, set mutual
oals, and hae the kids and families sin MCAS contracts.
This created shared accountabilit—e are all resonsible
for the success of our kids.”
Kuss science teachers also articiate in science-focused
rofessional deeloment led b Chain, ho is a trainer
for the FOSS (Full Otion Science Sstem) curriculumused in the core science classes, and throuh science
artner oranizations.
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LCv PLgh: anmy n-dPh
Throuh its membershi in the NASA Elorer Schools
netork, Kuss Middle School as introduced to the
Harard-Smithsonian Center for Astrohsics (CfA) and
its Science Education Deartment (SED). Kuss students
ere then inited to join a roject SED as leadin forthe National Science Foundation (NSF), called Innoatie
Technolo Enabled Astronom for Middle Schools,
or ITEAMS. part of NSF’s ITEST (Innoatie Technolo
Eeriences for Students and Teachers) roram, the oal
of the ITEAMS roject is to insire articiants to ursue
STEM careers and increase their master of foundational
STEM subjects.
Usin the SED’s robotic telescoes in an online
MicroObserator, Kuss students inoled in ITEAMS
enae in real-life research. Thanks to a secure ebsite,
students can een use the telescoes hile sittin in front
of their comuters at school.
Said CfA’s Science Education Secialist Jaimie Miller, “The
students are enaed in the same kind of research as our
astrohsicists.” The artnershi is in its third ear and is
rearin for scale-u. There are a total of 70 Kuss students
articiatin, slit beteen rst, second, and third ear
of articiation.
The roject’s learnin roression beins ith rst-ear
students learnin ho to use the robotic telescoes b
eaminin dee sace objects and inestiatin uestions
of distance, size, and scale. Second-ear students areenaed in indiidual research rojects on subjects of their
choice—for eamle, hases of the moon or secic sace
objects. Said Miller, “In the same a scientists do, the
take ictures ith the telescoes, donload and rocess
the imaes, and use them in their research.” The third-ear
cohort comletes a castone roject contributin to the
SED’s real-time stud of eolanets. This cohort orks as a
rou to take ictures and analze data.
The roject is led b Kuss science teachers Sarah Chain
and Sand Sullian, ho teach the Astronom electie
and articiate in the SED’s rofessional deeloment
three to four times er ear. The SED also roides access
to the robotic telescoes, other tools, and actiit lans
for the teachers. Elicit connections to science careers
are made on eld tris, here students trael to Harard
to isit the science laboratories and to the Ne Enland
Auarium for a behind-the-scenes tour to meet the
Auarium’s marine scientists.
Miller said, “what I loe most about [the Kuss students]
is that the all ask uestions. That’s the beinnin of an
kind of academic learnin—the abilit to ask uestions.
The are askin the same uestions that scientists are
inestiatin riht no. The hae a reall keen insiht
and curiosit that is imressie.” Miller noted that the
classroom enironment created b Chain and Sullian
encouraes articiation and inuir: “The teachers create
an enironment here uestionin is oka—it’s eected
—and the students are treated euitabl, b each other
and the teachers. The kids are reall smilin from the
inside hen the et the ansers riht.”
The roject is ealuatin its imact throuh subject
matter tests and a student sure assessin self-identit
(identifin as a “science erson”), efcac (feelin caable
of becomin a scientist) and career intention.
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20 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
mPaC
The additional time for science and the dee formal-
informal collaborations built b the Kuss throuh ELT
enable students to become more enaed in their
on science learnin in as that are alined ith the
National Research Council ndins on teachin and
learnin science. For eamle, throuh the Urban EcoloInstitute curricula, students al science concets to
enironmental concerns in their home enironment,
hich is an eamle of Strand 1 from Taking Science
to School—to kno, use, and interret scientic
elanations of the natural orld. Students ho collect
data throuh UEI and the Harard-Smithsonian Center
for Astrohsics Astronom roject, alon ith receiin
elicit instruction on ho to resent eidence, are
eosed to Strand 2 skills and knolede—eneratin
and ealuatin scientic eidence and elanations. As
the third-ear students contribute to the center’s real-
time stud of eolanets, the learn about the nature of
science (Strand 3) and foster their on identities as science
learners and eole ho kno about, use, and contribute
to science, reectin a learnin strand introduced in the
NRC’s Surrounded by Science. Encourain students to ask
scientic uestions and discuss ideas resectfull ith
eers eemlies Strand 4—articiatin roductiel in a
scientic communit.
The focus on science in the eanded-time curriculum
has ositiel imacted Kuss student erformance on
the state standardized science test. From 2007 to 2010,
the ercentae of eihth raders scorin rocient or
adanced on the science MCAS nearl doubled from 15ercent to 27 ercent, outacin oerall district ains
and bestin the district aerae of 22 ercent rocient
in 2010. Kuss staff members are clearl not satised ith
a 27 ercent rocienc rate, but the kno the scores
are headed in the riht direction. Deartment Chair ward
surmised that students’ science rocienc is increasin
as a result of a combination of strateies, catalzed b the
aailabilit of more time. “we hae chaned a lot of thins
in the last fe ears: we instituted the orksho model
and learned ho to better use data. we increased
eer obserations, and redesined the curricula.” The
continuin focus is on imroin students’ ritin and
readin comrehension skills hile simultaneousl
introducin and reinforcin ke scientic concets.
princial Mullen beliees the ELT electies hae also
increased students’ assion, as ell as their abilit in
science, as eidenced b the increasin number of Kuss
students choosin to enroll in science honors and/or
adanced lacement classes in hih school.
Beond science, ELT has had additional ositie imact on
Matthe Kuss Middle School.
crese La mt prociec: Beteen 2006-
2010, Kuss increased the ercentae of students scorin
rocient or adanced on MCAS b 34 oints in math and
b 16 oints in ELA, as comared to the other three middle
schools in Fall Rier, hich hae seen ains of 18 oints
in math and 10 oints in ELA durin the same time eriod.
The Kuss math ains hae been articularl imressie.
Oer the course of e ears, Kuss eihth raders hae all
but eliminated a 28-oint achieement a ith the state.24
crese erollet ttece: Enrollment at
Kuss has raned from a lo of 480 before ELT to 650 for the
2010-2011 school ear, makin it the larest of Fall Rier’s
four middle schools. In addition to the rise in enrollment,
dail attendance rates hae increased to 94 ercent, and
susension rates hae decreased 10 ercent since the 2008-09 school ear.
hi rtes o tecer stisctio: In 2009, 90 ercent of
Kuss teachers articiatin in a sure roject areed
that their school “sets hih standards for academic
erformance” and 96 ercent areed that teachers in their
school “are a rofessional communit of learners focused
on bein ood teachers.”25
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ELT electies hae increased
students’ assion, as ell
as their abilit in science, as
eidenced b the increasin
number of Kuss students
choosin to enroll in science
honors and/or adanced
lacement classes in hih school.
2007
Massachusetts Deartment of Education: Matthe J. Kuss Middle School
15%
16%
33%
18%
22%
20%20%
22%
39% 39% 40%
13%
20%
27%
2008 2009 2010
nrrowi o ciece gp wit tte
8th grade Science MCAS Test
% a
t o r a
b o v e p r o f c i e n t
District
State
Kuss
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22 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
THURgOOD MARSHALL
ACADEMy LOwER SCHOOLnW yk, nW yk
alts cilre o te roo mrsll ace
Lower cool (maL) i hrle sre riel, ope
er tt elies itese ocs o te ts t .
Hih eectations for children’s success are communicated
not just in the a teachers uer children on the subjectmatter, but also in the ubiuitous ortraits of African-
American icons ast and resent and the eemlars of
student academic ork and art rojects carefull chosen for
the alls of the hallas and classrooms.
TMALS as founded in 2005 b the Abssinian Deeloment
Cororation (ADC) in artnershi ith the Ne york Cit
public Schools and Ne visions for public Schools. The
elementar school is art of the reK-12th rade education
ieline sheherded b ADC in Central Harlem. The ieline
beins ith Head Start and culminates ith the Thurood
Marshall Academ for Learnin and Social Chane (TMALSC),
a middle/hih school created b ADC, Ne visions, and the
Ne york Cit public Schools in 1993. TMALSC no enrolls
550 students in rades 6-12 in a state-of-the-art buildin
comleted b ADC and its artners in 2004 as the rst hih
school built in Harlem in more than 50 ears. The hih
school boasted an 88 ercent cohort raduation rate for theclass of 2009, ersus a 63 ercent cohort raduation rate in
Ne york Cit oerall.
Since 1989, ADC has been a driin force for the
reitalization of Central Harlem, leerain
$600 million in resources to suort its housin,
economic reitalization, ciic enaement,
social serices, and education initiaties. Under
the leadershi of founder Dr. Calin O. Butts III,
astor of the historic Abssinian Batist Church,
ADC’s communit deeloment strate is drien
b the coniction that education is the central
element in lon-term communit reitalization.
Both the middle/hih school and TMALS share the motto “it
takes a illae to raise a child,” and althouh the hrase is
almost cliché, a isit to TMALS is a lesson in ho oerful
this notion can be hen it is lied and breathed eer da.
TMALS is led b princial Sean Daenort, hose condent,
distributie leadershi stle alins ell ith the school’s
artnershi model. His oal is to ensure that eer teacher
is euied ith the condence and skills to teach each
“Focusin on science throuh eanded
time has oened the door for us to be
a better school.”
Sean Daenort, princial (2004 – 2011)
Thurood Marshall Academ Loer School, Ne york, Ne york
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subject ell. He sends a lot of time in the classrooms,
obserin the teachers and askin the students to elain
hat the are learnin. His stle is reected in the a
facult members readil collaborate ith one another and
ith the on-site ADC staff. Said Josh Liinston, Manaer
of School-Based prorams for ADC, “TMALS is a er secial
communit that’s becomin a model for our educationork.” Daenort orks closel ith Liinston and Lucile
Middleton, a TMALS teacher and ADC Educational Liaison,
to create additional oortunities and suorts for TMALS
students. Under Ne york Cit’s rincial emoerment
model, Daenort has ide latitude to make budet and
stafn decisions that suort his ision.26
One of the major resources ADC and TMALS manae
toether is the lacement of nine AmeriCors Fellos ho
assist teachers durin the core classroom time and leadafternoon actiities from 1:00 pM to 5:30 pM each da. with
a total teachin staff of 15, an additional nine AmeriCors
members add sinicantl to the school’s caacit to
roide one-on-one attention to its students.
WhyExpandedLearningTimeandWhyScience?
when Daenort and Liinston heard about The After-
School Cororation’s Eanded Learnin Time ilot in
2007 (see bo, . 25), the immediatel decided to al,
knoin ho the struled to schedule adeuate
instructional time in core subjects ithin the si-hour-
and-tent-minute Ne york Cit school da. The
desire to imroe and eand science instruction as adriin factor in their decision to al for the initiatie.
princial Daenort elained, “Initiall e ere lookin
for eosure and enaement. There is not enouh
conersation about science in the African-American
communit. we ant our kids to understand that this is a
subject the can conuer.”
The TMALS team redesined the school da to incororate
eanded time and bean the roram in 2008. Liinston
of ADC said, “we looked at the da as a blank canas. we
hae the children from 8:30 to 5:30: who do e ant our
students to be? what do e ant them to learn and kno
ho to do? Ho do e create a da that ill suort our
children to meet these oals?” The lannin team createdAcademic Das (to afternoons a eek) and Enrichment
Das (to afternoons a eek), ith Fridas resered
for communit serice rojects led b the AmeriCors
team. This rorammin for students on Frida also
enables teachers to articiate in eekl meetins and
rofessional deeloment. The team created a schedule
hich roued rades K-2 and 3-5, alternatin the
Academic and Enrichment Das for each rou.
For the Enrichment Das rorammin, ADC oranizes
oa, art, dance, and caoeira (a Brazilian art form that
combines elements of martial arts, sorts, and music),
amon a rich assortment of resources. Liinston said, “we
understand ho mood and social/emotional and hsical
health imact a child’s loe of learnin. The enrichments
are desined to suort the total health deeloment of
eer child.” Academic Das include an additional science
instruction block tauht b TMALS teachers. Althouh not
reuired to ork the eanded da, 12 of the 15 teachers
ot to teach in the afternoons.
m m f CnC aChng and Lanng
In a Februar 2006 Education Week article, The After-School
Cororation (TASC) president and CEO Luc Friedman,
alon ith co-author Jane quinn of the Children’s Aid
Societ, discussed the otential of after-school rorams
to suort science education:
“After-school rorams offer an ideal settin for nurturin
the otential scientist in eer student, as ell as for
reinforcin the science tauht durin school hours.
Comared to the school da, these rorams’ smaller
rous, loner time slots, and less-formal settins roide
oortunities for oun eole to isit museums, stud
neihborhood enironments, cultiate ardens, erformlaborator eeriments, and hae their loe of discoer
aakened in countless other as.”27
princial Daenort’s oal as to brin the uniue
benets of after-school science learnin into TMALS
classrooms durin the eanded da, hile at the same
time build his facult’s comfort leel and condence in
teachin science. Daenort also anted to strenthen
the interation of literac and math actiities into science
roo mrsll ace Lower cool (maL)
2010-2011
Number of Students: 204
Grades: K – 5Former Schedule: 8:30 AM – 2:45 PM
Expanded Day Schedule: 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM
Former Time on
Science per Week: 135 minutes
Expanded Day Time on
Science per Week: 180 minutes
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24 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
learnin. He said, “we anted to take a different aroach
for the afternoons —less formal, more hands-on and
enain. The children understand it is still school. The
are still in uniform. But there are no rades; it’s a friendl
enironment for students to take risks and make mistakes.
Learnin science is all about learnin from mistakes.”
Daenort looked to TASC’s Frontiers in Urban Science
Initiatie (FUSE) to hel nd the aroriate science
curricula for the TMALS eanded time and also roide
hands-on trainin for the teachers (see bo, . 27). The FUSE
initiatie has ealuated seeral different curricula and
selected those that:
• are inuir-based and hands-on;
• inole outh in deeloin hiher-order thinkin skills
such as decision-makin, lannin, roblem-solin, and
reectin;
• include oortunities for arental inolement;
• roide oortunities for outh to learn about role
models;
• encourae outh to see themseles as learners;
• use techniues aroriate for a ariet of learninstles, ith attention to the needs of under-reresented
oulations;
• use affordable materials that are eas to nd;
• be eas to imlement b staff ho hae no science
backround;
• address national STEM standards;
• include a trainin comonent; and
• roide aroriate content for an urban, dierse
audience.28
For the 2010-2011 school ear, TASC offered the
folloin curricula:
• After-School Science plus (grades K-8)
• After-School Conseration Club (grades 3-6)
• 4-H wonderise (grades 3-7)
• BirdSleuth: After-School Inestiators (grades 3-6)• Miin in Math (grades K-5)
• NASA—The planetar Neihborhood (grades 3-5)
• Afterschool Unierse (grades 6-8)
TMALS chose Science plus for the rst rade, the Afterschool
Conseration Club for the second rade, 4H wonderise for
the third rade, and science curricula desined b teachers
in the fourth and fth rades. The 2010-2011 school ear
as TMALS’s second ear ith Afterschool Science plus, and
their rst ear ilotin the other rorams.
The teachers are enthusiastic about After-School
Science plus, created b the Academ for Educational
Deeloment’s Educational Euit Center. TMALS sent
a team of teachers to the TASC-sonsored After-School
Science plus trainin, here the conducted eeriments
the ould subseuentl teach the students. Debra Turner,
a third-rade teacher, noted, “Science plus emhasizes
constructin thins, urin it out, and ettin ecited
about science. Since the eeriments use eerda
materials, the children often reeat them at home. when
the share hat the learned in school, the are leaders and
build condence, and then the families are also enaed.”
princial Daenort added, “Some of our teachers struleith science and math. The Science plus curricula is
accessible and elcomin, for them and the students.”
Teacher Lucile Middleton commented on the imact of
Science plus on TMALS: “One of our teachers had a er
traditional aroach to science: orksheets, readin
chaters in book, memorization, testin, and on to the net
chater. Science plus trainin has been transformatie
for this teacher. No that classroom has centers and
eeriments throuhout the school da.” Another
teacher added, “Science plus has heled ie teachers
the condence to teach science, and it’s chanin the
a e teach.”
maL tet rops
2010-2011
Qualify for free/reduced lunch 72%
Limited English Procient 0%
Special Education 9%
Source: Ne york Cit public Schools
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xPandd Lanng m and h af-ChL
CPan (aC)
In Ne york, The After-School Cororation (TASC) leads and
suorts a cit-ide netork of 17 ublic elementar and
middle schools that are eandin the school da b
at least 35 ercent—more than 60 additional das ofschool—each ear. TASC EandED Schools (an initiatie
launched in 2007 as Eanded Learnin Time schools)
is manaed in artnershi ith the Ne york Cit
Deartment of Education and the Deartment of youth
and Communit Deeloment.
Most of the EandED Schools bean their eanded
schedules as oluntar rorams that sered anhere
from 29 ercent to 100 ercent of the students. Oer the
course of the three-ear ilot, the eanded da has
remained oluntar for students, but at four schools nearl
all the students no articiate in the EandED Schools
roram. For eamle, at Thurood Marshall Academ
Loer School, 91 ercent of the 204 students attend the
eanded da.
Durin these additional hours, each school artners ith
a communit-based oranization to roide enrichment
rorammin. The eanded school da is desined b
a cross-sector team, includin the rincial, teachers,
communit artners, arents, and a school staff member
ho is the educational liaison beteen the school and
communit-based oranization staff. TASC adises schools
to send at least 40 ercent of added time on academic
suort; at least 30 ercent on arts, sorts, communitserice, and leadershi actiities; and also to add a third
dail meal and recreational actiities to the schedule.
uL
As art of an interim ealuation of a three-ear ilot of
TASC’s eanded-time model, teachers ere asked hether
it imroed their students’ learnin. Eiht-e ercent
of teachers in EandED Schools reorted imroed
learnin for articiants. The ealuation also reealed thatstudent attendance rates at EandED Schools ere about
four ercentae oints hiher than students in matched
comarison schools.29
aot aC: Founded in 1998 ith a challene rant from
the Oen Societ Institute, TASC’s ision is that “kids from
all backrounds ill hae access to the rane of hih-
ualit actiities beond the school da that eer famil
ants for their children: eeriences that suort their
intellectual, creatie, and health deeloment and hel
them to be their best, in and out of school.”30 TASC has
suorted more than 150 communit oranizations to
oerate dail after-school and eanded learnin rorams
in 325 Ne york Cit ublic schools, serin 300,000
students. TASC also has been a ke leader in deeloin
infrastructure to suort after-school rorams, includin
staff trainin and education, curricula deeloment and
dissemination, eanded fundin models, and olic and
adocac at the cit, state, and national leels.
fn n uban CnC duCan (fu)
TASC launched the Frontiers in Urban Science Education(FUSE) initiatie in 2007 to increase oun eole’s interest
and enaement in STEM learnin in school, after school,
and oer the summer. FUSE’s oal is to catalze a culture
shift amon after-school leaders and staff in suort of
hih-ualit informal science education (ISE) ithin after-
school rorams. FUSE emlos a to-fold aroach to
brin about this culture shift and to shae ractice. First, a
“rass-tos” strate enaes leaders and staff of schools
and after-school rorams, oernment ofcials, science
oranizations, olicmakers, and funders in aareness-
raisin actiities that ill build enthusiasm and caacit
for inuir-based STEM learnin after school. Second,
a “rass-roots” strate roides frontline after-schoolstaff and suerisors ith the content knolede and
instructional skills to delier hih-ualit ISE.
with suort from the Noce Foundation, TASC deeloed
the FUSE model, then ith further suort, joined ith
the Collaboratie for Buildin After-School Sstems to
launch FUSE in multile cities around the countr. In 2011,
TASC joined ith the Ne york State Afterschool Netork
(NySAN) to launch FUSE throuhout Ne york State.
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26 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
[92% | Black or African American]
[7% | Hisanic]
[8% | TMALS Budet]
[6% | AmeriCors]
[14% | The After School Cororation (TASC)]
[28% | NyC Council Funds ia The Afterschool proram]
[45% | priate Foundation Fundin]
[1% | white]
maL tet deorpics 2010-2011
fi te pe d t maL
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8:00-8:30
8:45-9:30
9:35-10:20
10:23-11:10
11:15-12:05
12:10-1:00
1:05-1:50
1:55-2:40
2:50-3:27
3:30-4:154:25-5:00
5:00-5:30
mo
Breakfast
Journal writin(Math for those belorade leel)
Math
gm
Readin/writin
Lunch/Recess
Math
Science
Small grou Instruction:Readin Hel, MathHel, Adanced Math,Music, Museum Club
Meal and Science
Homeork
es
Breakfast
Journal writin(Math for those belorade leel)
Choice: visual Arts, Char-acter Buildin, Literacthrouh Arts
Math
Social Studies
Lunch/Recess
Math
Science
Small grou Instruction:Readin Hel, Math Hel,Adanced Math, Music,Museum Club
Meal and Choice: MartialArts, photorah, Afri-can Dance, Ste Team,Chorus
Homeork
Wees
Breakfast
Journal writin(Math for those belorade leel)
Math
gm
Readin/writin
Lunch/Recess
Math
Science
Small grou Instruction:Readin Hel, Math Hel,Adanced Math, Music,Museum Club
Meal and Science
Homeork
rs
Breakfast
Journal writin(Math for those belorade leel)
Choice: visual Arts, Char-acter Buildin, Literacthrouh Arts
Math
Social Studies
Lunch/Recess
Math
Science
Small grou Instruction:Readin Hel, Math Hel,Adanced Math, Music,Museum Club
Meal and Choice: MartialArts, photorah, Afri-can Dance, Ste Team,Chorus
Homeork
fri
Breakfast
Journal writin(Math for those belorade leel)
Math
gm
Readin/writin
Lunch/Recess
Math
Science
Small grou Instruction:Readin Hel, MathHel, Adanced Math,Music, Museum Club
Meal and Science
Homeork
maL pe-d cele (picl ir-gre cele)
m uPP f ung CnC m ffCvLy
ADC’s STEM Director Eeln Roman suorts the TMALS
facult in honin their edao and helin to interate
the science curricula across the full da and across the
discilines of literac and mathematics. Roman assists
teachers and administrators ith lannin, instruction,and imlementation, and leads rofessional deeloment
for the K-2 and 3-5 teacher teams. She also roides
indiidual coachin and technical suort on a eekl
basis to the TMALS teachers.
Said Roman, “Sometimes teachers ill come from a
orksho er ecited, but then hit a roadblock hen the
tr to imlement hat the hae learned. M role is to
deeen their knolede of the content and the curriculum
and hel them make connections amon the arious
aroaches, hether it is After-School Science plus, the
FOSS [Full Otion Science Sstem] kits, or other resources.”
Her emhasis is on helin teachers interate literac,
hands-on science, and math. “There is so much emhasis
on literac and math in Ne york, as in other laces,”
Roman elained. “So the teachers are more rone to
incororate the science hen ou can make those elicit
connections. The kno the are enhancin the math and
literac skills, too.”
Roman is assionate about the otential of interatin
literac, math, and science to address the ocabular and
readin skills as that hinder the efforts of man lo-
income children to reach rocienc in math, science, and
other areas. “There is an imortant crossroad beteenscience and Enlish lanuae arts. we can brin out the
science in a book, and at the same time er intentionall
teach children literac strateies—ho to dissect the
uratie lanuae, ho to discern the author’s intent,
ho to look at the roots of ords and infer their meanin
b connectin it to hat the alread kno. The Evolution
of Calpurnia Tate , b Jacueline Kell, is a reat eamle.”
The book is a comin-of-ae stor of a oun irl in earl
20th centur Tennessee, strulin ith societal and
famil ressures and discoerin her jo in accomanin
her naturalist randfather on his ildlife inestiations.
“we need to increase kids’ eosure to hih-ualit
books and suort those lessons ith hands-on science
actiities. The more the eerience hands-on learnin, the
knolede is internalized, and the ocabular increases,”
said Roman.
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28 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
Eeln Roman, ADC’s STEM Director, and the teachers
describe ho TMALS interates literac, math, and science
in a multi-da rst-rade lesson based on the book Mouse
Count , b Ellen Stoll walsh. The book tells the stor of a
meado snake countin u ten mice he catches for a later
meal, and then countin don as each one escaes.
The lesson beins ith a read-aloud, to build the children’s
countin and rediction skills, and then moes to a
hands-on actiit that builds number sense as the children
use counters to enerate different combinations of the
number ten.
The lesson roceeds into science, as the class discusses
hat liin thins need to surie and ho a meado
functions as a habitat. The children create their on
meados in another hands-on actiit. Then the class
discusses ho man mice snakes need to eat to surie,
testin out estimatin skills and eneratin hotheses.
The teacher brins in a snake skeleton or a lie snake, so the
children can see ho the sine is constructed and enables
it to slither—reinforcin ne ocabular throuhout. The
children comare the snake’s sine to their on sines,
discuss different kinds of snakes, and are introduced to ho
snakes are classied.
Finall, the students rite their on Mouse Count-insired
book. “Man of these children hae neer seen a meado,
so it is imortant to emhasize and re-emhasize the
ocabular throuhout. This deel etended lesson is
ossible at TMALS because the can stretch it oer seeral
das and afternoons,” said Roman.
Teacher Danica ward added, “The eanded time enables
us to teach skills in different as. we can alternate amon
tetbooks, labs, and hands-on centers. we introduce the
concets durin the rst art of the da and then o back in
the afternoon to etend the lesson. I use that etra time to
build it u, and make sure students et hat the need. It
isn’t alas somethin ne. Reetition is useful sometimes
for children ho take loner to et it, eseciall if the rou
is smaller.”
Siobhan gordon, a rst-rade teacher, areed, “Children
hae different learnin stles and the eanded time
roides more time to meet their needs. Eseciall in
science, the oortunit for children to be hands-on, and
touch thins, is imortant. Before eanded time, e ma
hae one back to reinforce a lesson the net da, but e
onl had time to mention it. No e can etend, eand,
and deeen.”
CLam PLgh: ngang CnC, mah, and LaCy hugh MUS CU
One of our teachers had a er traditionalaroach to science: orksheets, readin
chaters in book, memorization, testin,
and on to the net chater. Science plus
trainin has been transformatie for this
teacher. No that classroom has centers and
eeriments throuhout the school da.”Lucile Middleton, teacher, TMALS
“
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mPaC
Lessons like Mouse Count hae meaninful imact on
TMALS students’ rocienc in science. when the students
can actuall see ho a snake’s skeleton is constructed
and comare it to their on sines the are alin ne
concets (Strand 1). when the children create their onmeados and learn about the interactions beteen snakes
and mice, the are atherin eidence and reasonin
from the eidence about hat snakes need to surie
(Strand 2). when the return to the same lesson later in
the da, the students are encouraed to reect on their
earlier eeriences (Strand 3). And hen the hae a
chance to talk ith one another about their ideas, the
are articiatin roductiel in a communit of fello
scientists (Strand 4).
On the 2010 Ne york state standardized science test,
nearl 92 ercent of TMALS fourth raders scored
rocient or aboe (56.8 ercent rocient; 35.1 ercent
adanced) comared to 83 ercent rocient or aboe
in Ne york Cit. For TMALS, these results reresent a
sinicant ain from the ear before, hen 71 ercent of
fourth raders scored rocient or aboe.
TMALS does not rel on test scores alone to ealuate the
imact of the school’s focus on science. princial Sean
Daenort enaes in freuent classroom obserations,
and often asks students to elain to him hat the are
learnin. He, Eeln Roman, and the school staff are aare
that sustained ains ill take a multi-ear effort. Roman
added, “It is imortant to do constant assessments that
are creatie. we’re not just relin on hain the children
rite somethin, but instead bein intentional about
hain the teacher ask direct uestions and learnin
ho to differentiate the roress and understandin
of indiidual children orkin ithin a rou or lain
a ame.”
nrrowi o ciece acieeet gp: maL s. tte
[95%]
State (not disadantaed)TMALS (economicall disadantaed)
Ne york State Deartment of Education: TMALS Reort CardNe york State Deartment of Education: Ne york State Reort Card
NOTE: Because TMALS bean in 2004 ith onl Kinderarten andadded one rade er ear, as children aed u, 2009 as the rst earthat there as fourth rade.
[96%][92%]
[67%]
2009 2010
28%
4%
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30 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
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PCP
In summer 2011, Sean Daenort left TMALS to lead the
Thurood Marshall Academ for Learnin and Social Chane
(TMALSC), the middle/hih school counterart to TMALS. Artteacher Dan Brooks Decosta as aointed rincial of
TMALS. Decosta intends to continue the eanded-learnin-
time roram and its emhasis on hands-on, enain
science actiities, citin After-School Science plus as a ke
drier of science rocienc amon TMALS students.
Decosta and her facult are also analzin the full curricula
aainst the ne Common Core standards and identifin
as and areas for sharer focus. “The ne standards reallemhasize non-ction readin and ritin skills—and e
are focusin on this as a leer to deeen our aroach to
interatin science and literac throuhout the rades,”
said Decosta.
The eanded time enables us to
teach skills in different as. wecan alternate amon tetbooks,
labs, and hands-on centers. we
introduce the concets durin therst art of the da and then o
back in the afternoon to etend
the lesson.”
“
Danica ward, fourth-rade teacher, TMALS
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32 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
EDITH I. STARKE
AND pIERSONELEMENTARy SCHOOLSvOLUSIA COUNTy, FLORIDA
2006, dept periteet Cris Colwell e to
ocs eepl o te ieqc o sciece istrctioi volsi Cot Plic cools. “we hae three bi
roblems in science instruction: time, trainin, and rior,”
he elained. Colell then detailed the backround on
each of these three challenes.
ie: Florida state la reuires a 90-minute readin block
and 60-minute math block dail in elementar school.
Said Colell, “As a result, e had to face the harsh realit
that e did not hae elicit science instruction oin
on in our elementar schools. In some laces, e hae
allocated 15-20 minutes three times a eek, and een this
is not haenin.”
rii: Acknoleded Colell, “Man of our teacher
rearation institutions focus their re-serice education
on readin rst, math second, and science not at all. There
is inadeuate science content knolede and
science edaoical skill. particularl in the
uer elementar rades, man teachers are
not comfortable ith science content.”
ior: Florida adoted the Net generation
Sunshine State Science Standards in 2008.
The state science assessments are chanin
in 2012 to reect the ne standards. Thesene standards do not “siral” or reisit
content ith increasin comleit across
the rades. Each unit is tauht full in one
rade onl. In addition, districts are rearin
for 2016, hen assae of biolo, and
either chemistr or hsics, ill be reuired
to raduate hih school. In Colell’s ie, the district
needs to increase academic rior throuhout the science
curriculum to ensure students are reared for the ne
reuirements.
“M hardest ear teachin here
as the one ear e did not hae
the etra hour. I could not take a
breath. There as no time to do the
hands-on inuir aroach. Student
learnin suffered.”
Jennifer Robinson, fth-rade teacher, pierson Elementar School
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vLua Cuny PubLC ChL
PlusOne
The plus One Initiatie of Florida’s volusia Count public
Schools bean in Januar 2003, hen the teachers
and rincial of one elementar school bean a ilot
roram eandin the si-hour school da b one hour.particiatin teachers ere aid for their etra time out of
the school’s Title I allocation. Reconizin the earl success
and oularit of the ilot, and seizin on the additional
time as a ke strate to assist under-erformin schools
in imroin student academic outcomes, the district has
eanded the roram to nine elementar schools. These
nine Title I schools enroll aroimatel 4,800 students,
82 ercent of hom are lo-income. The one additional
hour er da at each school boosts learnin time b the
euialent of an etra 30 das each ear.
Funded entirel b Title I and oerseen b the district’s
Title I administrator and deut suerintendent, plus One
has been leel-funded b the district oer the last to
ears, desite declinin Title I allocations from the federal
oernment. The additional fundin suorts teachers
and ararofessionals to ork the additional hour at their
contracted rate. plus One bean as oluntar for teachers
to articiate and then, b 2007, became mandator for the
hole facult at each articiatin school, as lon as 80
ercent of the school’s teachers ote to articiate.
All plus One time is deoted to additional academic
instruction, and each plus One school has eibilit
in desinin its schedule and choosin the academicriorities for its additional time. Across the district, time
for science had been scaled back in elementar schools
to accommodate more time in Enlish lanuae arts and
math classes. Conseuentl, most of the plus One schools
use at least art of the additional instructional time for
science. In addition, the district has been suortin a
strate hereb schools offer small-rou academic
suort classes, built into the da, to address student
learnin decits in tareted as. The volusia plus One
schools hae imlemented this model more full than the
non-plus One schools because the are able to dedicate
aroimatel 30 minutes dail to these classes.
eslts: All plus One schools hae seen marked roth
in the ercentae of students achiein rocienc in
ritin. Science scores hae risen fairl consistentl in
most of the articiatin schools oer the last four ears.31
DistrictandSchoolDetails
Located about 50 miles northeast of Orlando, volusia
Count is an area rouhl the size of Rhode Island. Home
to half a million eole, volusia incororates a stretch of
beaches alon the coast—includin Datona Beach—andetends est to the farmin, residential, and retirement
communities near St. John’s Rier.
volusia Count public Schools enroll nearl 63,000 students
in 45 elementar schools, 13 middle schools, 10 hih
schools, and seeral alternatie rorams. Students come
from 158 countries and seak 78 different lanuaes.
Althouh the count has economicall roserous areas,
it also has tons marked b sinicant oert leels. Just
oer half of the district’s students are eliible for free and
reduced-riced meals and 68 schools receie Title I funds.
volusia Count also contends ith the state’s second
hihest rate of homeless children (behind Miami-Dade).
The case studies resented here focus on to schools
imlementin the district’s plus One roram: pierson and
Edith I. Starke elementar schools.
pierson Elementar School is the onl elementar school
in the aricultural ton of pierson, about 30 miles est
of the Atlantic Ocean. Knon as “The Fern Caital of the
world,” pierson has a oulation of 2,596 accordin to the
2000 census. Ferns ron on pierson’s sralin farms are
eorted orldide for use in oral arranements and
other decorations. Accordin to the 2000 census, the ercaita income for the ton as $12,450. pierson bean to
artiall imlement the plus One initiatie in the 2007-2008
school ear, ith school-ide imlementation beinnin in
fall 2008.
Edith I. Starke Elementar School is one of si ublic
elementar schools located in the count seat of Deland.
with a oulation of about 25,000 accordin to the 2000
Census, Deland is knon for its historic architecture and
is home to Stetson Uniersit, the rst riate collee in
the state. The er caita income for the cit in 2000 as
$15,936. Starke has been a plus One school since the 2006-
2007 school ear.
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34 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
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WhyExpandedLearningTimeandWhyScience?
pierson and Starke Elementar Schools are usin plus
One—an etra hour of instruction aailable for some
volusia elementar schools—to increase the time, trainin
and rior of their science instruction.
Starke and pierson redesined the entire school da to
take adantae of the plus One hour. Both schools also
hae instituted core reforms that osition them ellto maimize the use of additional instructional time,
includin establishin teacher rofessional learnin
communities to analze data and imroe instructional
ractice. The schools also hae imlemented the
Resonse to Interention model to boost literac and
math rocienc. gien the oortunit to add an etra
hour, each school chose science as a ke riorit. Both
these schools are also suorted b additional science
rofessional deeloment and curricular resources from
the district.
m m f CnC aChng and Lanng
Before plus One, the schools aeraed 20 minutes of
science instruction to to three das er eek across
K-5. No, Starke and pierson fourth and fth raders
articiate in about 60 minutes of science each da.
Students in rimar rades hae 30 minutes er da of
science. Students at both schools are actiel enaed
in science learnin. Teachers use a mi of edaoicalaroaches, includin teacher-led discussions, eer-to-eer
uestionin, and hands-on eeriments and inestiations.
The classroom ace oerall is relaed, and the teachers
often sto to reinforce a articular concet or check to see
if the lesson is resonatin ith the rou.
Teachers at both schools consider the additional science
time critical to their aroach. Said Jason Kno, a pierson
fth-rade teacher: “No e hae a chance to o back
and send the etra time to make sure students reall
understand it—eseciall m ESE (secial education)
students. Sometimes it takes them loner to read the
material, understand the instructions, and ask uestions.
with the etra time, the can do it.”
For eamle, Laura Bechard’s blended fourth- and fth-
rade class at pierson is diided into teams that rotate
amon eerimental stations demonstratin the effects
of ater erosion. One rou is creatin small and lare
aes b moin the ater back and forth and obserin
the imact on the sand in lastic bins, hile another
rou obseres the different imacts of simulated rain on
lanters lled ith cloer and those acked ith just dirt.
In their science notebooks, the children share obserations
and make drains of their results.
Said Bechard, “you hae to do science; ou cannot just
read about it. we do eeriments three times a eek,
on aerae. But to hae alue, it needs to be elicitl
connected to the real orld, and students need to enae
in discussion and analsis around the eeriment. we need
that etra time for debrien to reinforce the ocabular
or scientic concets illustrated durin the eeriment.
Otherise it’s just a fun eeriment.
“Enain in that debrien in the dee a these
students need takes a lot of time,” Bechard continued.
“Students must sho me in lots of different, creatie asthat the understand hat the science is. For eamle,
the can o online to create a comic stri that illustrates
the difference beteen erosion and eatherin. The can
create osters or moies usin online tools.”
The school staff members talk about the imact of oert
and lanuae barriers on student learnin and ho the
adjust their edao to ll as in students’ contetual
knolede. Richard T. Mers, the rincial at pierson, said,
tre leetr cool 2010-2011
Number of Students 429
Grades K – 5
Percent of Students
Participating in ELT 100
Former Schedule 7:55 AM – 2:05 PM
ELT Schedule 7:55 AM – 3:05 PM:
M, T, Th F
7:55 AM – 2:05 PM: W
Former Time on Scienceper Week K-5: 40-60 minutes
ELT Time on Science per Week K-3: 150 minutes
4-5: 275 minutes
Pierso leetr cool 2010-2011
Number of Students 540
Grades K – 5
Percent of Students
Participating in ELT 100
Former Schedule 8:10 AM – 2:20 PM
ELT Schedule 8:10 AM – 3:20 PM
Former Time on Science
per Week 60 minutes
ELT Time on Science per Week 300 minutes
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[1% | Other][3% | African American]
[23% | white]
[73% | Hisanic]
Pierso leetr tet deorpics
2010 – 2011
36
[1% | Natie American]
[6% | Multiracial]
[26% | white]
[33% | African American]
[33% | Hisanc]
[2% | Asian]
tre leetr tet deorpics
2010 – 2011
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37EDITH I. STARKE AND pIERSON ELEMENTARy SCHOOLS |
“Our students are strulin ith the basic ocabular,
understandin the eneral concets. we hae a hih-
oert oulation. Families are strulin to make ends
meet. Man arents are siml not able to roide content
knolede and consistent hel to ensure their children’s
academic success. Children and families on the hole hae
er limited eosure to the orld outside of the ton.”Said Bechard, “Our students strule ith ho the science
e teach connects to the real orld. we need to make it
elicit and reinforce those connections constantl. This,
aain, takes time.”
Accordin to the teachers, these contetual as imact
standardized test scores. “Often, test scores don’t reect
the science knolede. The a the tests are built, the
assumed frames of reference are missin for our students,
and the et tried u b a strane ord or unfamiliar
settin, een if the do understand the scientic concet,”
said princial Mers.
BeyondtheExpandedDay
Both pierson and Starke schools hae imlemented
additional suorts, beond the plus One initiatie, to
bolster student achieement and suort families.
Starke has a 21st Centur Communit Learnin Center
after-school roram on site until 5:30pM eer da. The
roram enrolls 65 children from rades three throuh e
ho hae each been identied b the staff as needin etra
suort. Sharon Llod mentors the Starke fth raders’
science fair rojects durin the after-school roram, llin
an imortant a because man of these children do not
hae the suort readil aailable at home for helin ith
these labor-intensie rojects. Accordin to Starke princial
Barbara Head, children in the roram hae made academic
ains hen measured aainst children ho are not inthe roram.
pierson princial Mers as determined to brin the
Science Olmiad to pierson after seein its otential for
catalzin science enaement amon middle schoolers.
Beun in the 2010-2011, the 22-member team is the onl
elementar-leel Science Olmiad team in the district.
The team trains after school under the suerision of a
pierson teacher and is rearin to trael to Orlando for
the Science Olmiad cometition. For man of the team
members, this ill be their rst tri to Orlando, 30 miles to
the est. pierson teachers also started a Saturda session
to roide suort and materials for students orkin on
their science fair rojects.
Both schools run ell-attended, school-based Famil
Science Nihts in artnershi ith Orlando Science
Center and the Museum of Arts and Sciences. The eents
feature hands-on learnin labs staffed b teachers and
olunteers (and at the Starke, b Stetson Uniersit
education students).
“Our students strule ith hothe science e teach connects tothe real orld. we need to make
it elicit and reinforce those
connections constantl. This,aain, takes time.”Laura Bechard, fourth-rade science teacher, pierson Elementar School
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38 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
8:15-9:15
9:15-9:45
9:45-10:45
10:50-11:35
11:40-12:30
12:35-1:10
1:10-1:40
1:45-2:15
2:15-3:15
mo
Math
Interention
Science
Secials
Lunch
ELA
Social Studies
wg Readin
Sg Readin
es
Math
Interention
Science
Secials
Lunch
ELA
Etra pE
wg Readin
Sg Readin
Wees
Math
Interention
Science
Secials
Lunch
ELA
Social Studies
wg Readin
Sg Readin
rs
Math
Interention
Science
Secials
Lunch
ELA
Etra pE
wg Readin
Sg Readin
fri
Math
Interention
Science
Secials
Lunch
ELA
Social Studies
wg Readin
Sg Readin
Pierso leetr pe-d cele (picl fit-gre cele)
CLam PLgh: Wha a hadW?
Sharon Llod’s kinderartners at Starke Elementar
are sharin hat the kno about shados. The offer
the folloin obserations, hich Llod rites on the
hiteboard at the front of the room hile the children sit
cross-leed in a semi-circle around her.
• Shados follo ou
• Our hands make shados
• Shados can be bi or little
• The sun makes shados
Llod turns to the icture book Bear’s Shadow b Frank
Asch and beins to read. She stos freuentl to ask her
students to redict hat miht haen net. At the oint
here Bear has reeted his shado and settled don for a
na, Llod asks the children to redict hat ill haen to
his shado as he slees. She directs the children to discuss
their ideas in airs, and then take turns sharin ith the
rou. The redict that the shado ill not sta the same.
“The clouds miht come!” offers one intentl focused irl.
After brinin the entire class outside into the courtard,
Llod las out a lare iece of aer deictin a ond
scribbled in ith blue marker. She has a fe maneticshin oles and some to sh. Each child ets a chance
to catch the sh, hile Llod oints out that here the
choose to stand either hides or eoses their shado to
the sh. “Kee our shado behind ou so it doesn’t scare
the sh!” she calls.
Back inside, the children take out their science journals.
Each is marked ith the title “Scientist” recedin his or
her name and is lled ith drains and ritin from the
ear’s science lessons. Llod asks the children to dra
themseles shin and include the ond, their on bod,
and their shado. She kees askin uestions as she
circles the room. Stoin net to one child, she eclaims,
“I am so roud of ou that ou thouht to include the sun
in our icture!”
Llod is a 20-ear eteran of Starke. She is reconized
b princial Barbara Head and her eers as the school’s
resident eert on science. For seeral ears, Llod as
the science lab interention teacher. She has sent the
last to ears teachin kinderarten. She elains the full
contet of the da’s lesson. “The shado lesson is artof a four-eek unit on Objects in the Da and Niht Sk,
ithin our Earth in Sace and Time curriculum. Durin the
unit, e record ho the osition of the sun chanes durin
the school da. yesterda e discussed hat e kne
about shados. we incororate literature into the lesson
heneer e can. we alas tr to hae an interactie
actiit—toda it as shin. Then e hae the children
elain hat the learned in their science notebook.
Tomorro e ill trace our shados outside eriodicall
oer the course of the da.
“we construct the lesson to focus on literac and readin
strateies and dele into scientic concets, buildin onhat the children alread kno. we ould not be able
to accomlish all these oals ithout the etra hour of
instructional time,” Llod said.
princial Head commented, “Interatin literac is critical.
Children under-erform on the district third-rade science
assessment because the strule ith readin. yes, kids
need hands-on science. But the biest factor determinin
success is ‘Can the read the tet?’”
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tre tet rops 2010-2011
Qualify for free/reduced lunch 92%
English Language Learners 27.7%
Special Education 19.1%
Pierso tet rops 2010-2011
Qualify for free/reduced lunch 88%
English Language Learners 47%
Special Education 11%
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40 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
m uPP f ung CnC m ffCvLy
In volusia Count, the district las a ke role in suortin
science instruction. The district science team, consistin
of a science secialist and a teacher-on-loan, oranizes
rofessional deeloment oortunities, roides
uidance in deeloin curricula mas and acin uides,and desins the interim science assessments. The district
also suorts four science coaches, funded throuh
federal American Recoer and Reinestment Act (ARRA)
resources. The science coaches are school-based, and the
also roide rofessional deeloment and trainin for
elementar science teachers throuhout the district. At
each school, one erson is the science contact and receies
a stiend to articiate in to das of trainin and
eriodic meetins called b the district science staff.
The district staff admit that this rofessional deeloment
and coachin arranement is less than ideal but that it
tries to leerae the resources that are aailable in the
fairest a ossible. “we kno e do not hae enouh
resources to offer all the content, assessment, and data
analsis trainin needed,” said Jennifer Talor, District
Science Secialist K-12. “Our oal is to ensure euit across
the sstem in access to science materials, sulies, labs,
resource materials, and tetbooks.”
The district also laces a reat deal of emhasis on
hain ualit curriculum and materials. volusia science
eerts roduce the science curricula ma keed to
the state standards for each rade. The ma roides
acin uidance and suestions for actiities but doesnot roide da-to-da lesson lans. At each school, the
teachers reie the ma and lan their dail lessons. The
district science team roides suort and uidance to the
teachers as the comlete this rocess.
Teachers at both volusia eanded-time schools had hih
raise for the district’s efforts. Hain just comleted a
district-sonsored teacher orksho that shocased a
hands-on rocks and minerals unit, pierson fourth-rade
teachers ere eaer to teach the lesson to their students.
The district reuires teachers to ie eiht science
assessments er ear in rades three throuh e. “we
ork hard to make sure the assessments are at the riht
leel of difcult,” said Laura Herrera, ho is a science
teacher-on-loan to the district science deartment. Shecontinued, “Students are reuired to al, snthesize, and
roblem-sole ith their knolede, not just demonstrate
memorization of facts.”
The teachers analze the results of the interim assessments
ithin their rofessional learnin communities (pLCs). The
science team roides the pLCs ith uidance documents
and data analsis sheets to hel increase the efcienc
and imact of their efforts. Said Caroln gardinier, volusia
Count public Schools Title I Director, “we hae heled the
pLCs moe from admirin all this data to actuall usin it to
make instructional decisions.”
Starke School has brokered an additional resource for
teacher rofessional deeloment throuh its relationshi
ith nearb Stetson Uniersit. Stetson rofessors roide
in-serice teacher rofessional deeloment and onoin
uidance to Starke’s pLCs and princial Barbara Head in
a rane of areas—includin core curricula, classroom
manaement, behaioral interentions, and staff
recruitment and retention. Starke, in turn, roides ractica
lacements for re-serice Stetson education students.
Deut Suerintendent Colell elained, “The Stetson
model is to o dee. The are consistent, lon-term artners
that are deel imactin a small number of schools,includin Starke.”
Stetson re-serice teachers are ured to take etra stes
to et to kno students and families durin their ractica,
throuh olunteerin in the after-school roram and
stafn famil nihts. Said Doulas MacIsaac, Stetson
Uniersit rofessor, “Some students stud the imact of
arent inolement on children’s school erformance, but
our re-serice teachers understand it rst-hand.”
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mPaC
The additional hour of time enables teachers at Starke
and pierson Elementar Schools to interate a rane of
teachin and learnin strateies alined ith the Taking
Science to School strands. For eamle, an imortant
asect of Strand 3 is not just for the students to be aareof hat rofessional scientists do, but enae in reection
on the as that their on thinkin and learnin is
roressin. Reuirin students to rite and dra in their
journals after the enae in science actiities encouraes
them to reect on their on thinkin and learnin, een as
earl as kinderarten ae. Starke and pierson teachers are
also aare of the imortance of Strand 4—articiatin
roductiel in scientic ractices and discourse. These
teachers reconize that students need to enae in
discussion and analsis around the eeriments—not
just to better understand the ocabular and scientic
concets, but also to ain ractice articulatin their ideas
and listenin thouhtfull, criticall, and resectfull to
one another. As one of the teachers remarked, ithout
an oortunit for the students to discuss their ideas
toether, “it’s just a fun eeriment.”
Students in both schools—desite hiher oert rates
and reater lanuae barriers than students in the district
and state oerall—are catchin u ith, and sometimes
outscorin, their eers on the fth-rade science test.
In 2010, the ercentae of Starke students that scoredrocient on the test as ithin si oints of the state
aerae (43 ercent s. 49 ercent), and pierson students’
rocienc rates bested the state (55 ercent). perhas
more imortantl, oer the last four ears, each school
has eerienced roth in rocienc of at least
15 ercentae oints, suestin that oer time the
schools are increasin the effectieness of their
science teachin.
EDITH I. STARKE AND pIERSON ELEMENTARy SCHOOLS | 41
2007
24%
40%
36%
43%
55%
42%
44% 46%
52% 54%
43%
46%49%
24%
30%
43%
2008 2009 2010
tet Perorce o 5t gre fCa ciece est
Starke and pierson s. State
%
a t o r a b o v e g r a d e l e v e l
District
District
State
Starke
pierson
FCAT: Florida’s
Comrehensie
Assessment Test
Florida Deartment
of Education: School
Science Reorts
Cost er student
for plus One (2009 -
2010 school ear) is
aroimatel $700.
(Funded throuh Title I
dollars.)
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42 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
JANE LONg
MIDDLE SCHOOLHOUSTON, TExAS
Je Lo mile cool s ee er costrctio
i ore ws t oe. aist jor reotio
to te psicl plt, stets st ere te
icoeiece o oise, st tpe-o wlws,
ersti teir ptiece will eetll e rewre
wit etter cilit. The simultaneous constructionroject—buildin an educational roram that results in
increased oortunities and academic success for Jane
Lon students—is sinicantl more challenin, but
romises to hae een more transformatie and lastinimact for the school’s students and their families.
Ninet-si ercent of Jane Lon students are lo-income,
and 85 ercent are Latino, reectin the demorahics of
gulfton, the school’s surroundin neihborhood. gulfton
is best knon for its 90-lus aartment comlees, built
to house oil industr rofessionals in the 1960s and
1970s. After the oil bust of the 1980s, the neihborhood
transitioned to become a lo-income communit of
immirants from Meico, Central America, and dozens
of other countries and reions. B 2000, gulfton as
Houston’s most densel oulated communit, ith an
estimated 45,000 eole liin in a three suare-mile
area. Local eerts estimate the actual oulation ofgulfton is closer to 70,000, accountin for a sinicant
number of eole ho are reluctant to articiate in
the Census because of immiration status.32 Houston
Indeendent School District (HISD) schools
in the neihborhood hae struled
ith oercrodin and lo academic
erformance.
WhyExpandedLearningTimeandWhy
Science?
Oer the ast four ears, KIpp, yES, and
Harmon charter schools hae oened in
gulfton, offerin etended school das and romisinbetter academic results for neihborhood children.
Hundreds of families hae oted out of HISD in faor of
the charters, driin Jane Lon’s enrollment don from
1,337 students in 2007 to 773 in 2010.
As Jane Lon has lost students to the nearb charters, its
budet decreased, forcin the school to cut enrichments
such as band and theatre arts, surrin increased student
“Stain here kees me occuied and
hels m brain deelo more so I can
et to hih school and succeed in life.”
Carmen, sith rader, Jane Lon Middle School
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attrition. Leaders and staff of the school, acutel aare of
the cometitie enironment, kne the needed to break
out of the crilin ccle.
Diana De La Rosa as the rincial of Jane Lon from
2003 until mid-March 2011, hen she as taed to lead
the turnaround of another Houston middle school. She
elained, “when I started, e ere reall strulin
to meet academic erformance oals. The majorit of
students ere failin. It as clear to me that e did not
hae enouh time to counter the students’ lanuae
and knolede as. we needed a a to increase
instructional time—eseciall in science.” De La Rosa
and her team started b redesinin the schedule tocreate 90-minute instructional blocks. Students receied a
90-minute block of science eer other da.
Aare that the cometin charters all had etended
schedules, De La Rosa and her staff also souht to roide
learnin oortunities beond the school da for Jane
Lon students. “we had a fe after-school rorams at
the time, but the ere led b teachers ho ere frankl
orn out b the end of the da. There as no ener to
tr anthin different and the rorams had little imact
on students,” said De La Rosa. “Then Citizen Schools came
alon. The ere read to take on the afternoon.”
Founded as an after-school roram in Boston in 1995,
Citizen Schools runs eanded da and after-school
rorams for 4,400 middle school students at 37 sites in
seen states. The Citizen Schools model features roject-
based “arenticeshis”—ten-eek, hands-on courses
tauht b “Citizen Teachers” from the local communit,
includin journalists, laers, stockbrokers, scientists,
and others. In addition to articiatin in arenticeshis,
students receie academic suort, o on eld tris,
and enae in serice oortunities and collee and
career elorations.
In the rst ear of Citizen Schools at Jane Lon, 38 students
articiated for the full ear, aerain 93 ercent
attendance in the roram. Accordin to rubrics deeloed
b Citizen Schools to track student outcomes, 79 ercent
of students in the roram that rst ear imroed their
oral communication skills and 72 ercent imroed
their leadershi skills. Oer the same eriod, 71 ercent
maintained a assin rade or imroed a loer rade
in Enlish lanuae arts and 74 ercent did so in math.
Satisfaction as also hih: On a scale from 1 to 5, theaerae ratin of roram ualit b students, families,
olunteers, teachers, and Citizen Schools staff members
as 4.3 out of 5.
De La Rosa as imressed. “ Then e thouht, let’s assin
them the reall touh kids!” she said. The same ear Citizen
Schools came to Jane Lon, De La Rosa had tareted
intensie attention on the “bride rou”—22 sith
raders ho ere oer-ae for rade leel and strulin
academicall. De La Rosa herself led the rou in the
homeroom eriod and encouraed teachers to roide the
rou ith additional hel before and after school. Desite
the etra effort, the end of the ear brouht disaointinresults: Onl 10 bride rou students ere romoted to
seenth rade.
The net ear, De La Rosa enrolled 15 bride rou
students in the Citizen Schools roram. She as
oerhelmed b the result. “The did not lose one of those
kids! The een had a fe in honors classes b the end of
the ear. The Citizen Schools staff struled less, ersisted
Je Lo mile cool 2010-2011
Number of Students: 773
grades: 6 – 8
Students particiatin in Reuired for all 240 sith raders
Eanded Da: 60 seenth/eihth raders oluntaril articiate
Former Schedule: 7:45 AM – 3:00 pM
Eanded Da Schedule: 7:45 AM – 5:30 pM
Former Time on Science er week: 180 minutes
Eanded Da Time on 450 minutes of core science classes for sith and eihth
Science er week: raders; additional aerae of 90 minutes er eek of STEM
arenticeshis throuh Citizen Schools for all sith
raders and 60 seenth/eihth raders
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44 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
more, and did better than e did. we ere able to
accelerate the roress of these students throuh middle
school so that b the end of eihth rade the cauht u
ith their eer rou.”
That eerience coninced De La Rosa that Citizen Schools
could hae a similar imact on the entire sith rade. Aear of intensie lannin, includin focus rous ith
arents, rincials, and teachers of elementar feeder
schools, resulted in Jane Lon teachers otin 36-1 to
eand the school da b reuirin all sith raders to
enroll in the Citizen Schools roram. with ermission
from HISD, in Fall 2010 Jane Lon bean reuirin all sith
raders to attend school from 7:45 AM to 5:30 pM, ith the
last 2.5 hours deoted to the Citizen Schools roram.
The eanded schedule as funded b a combination of
Title I, AmeriCors, state and local education funds, and
riate resources raised b Citizen Schools. To hel nance
the roram, Jane Lon eliminated an assistant rincial
osition and fundin for eld tris and other actiities.
Additional resources from a 21st Centur Communit
Learnin Center rant suort the oluntar articiation
of seenth and eihth raders in the Citizen Schools
roram.
De La Rosa ould hae liked to etend the school da for
the entire school, but bean ith the sith rade ien
budet constraints. “we strateicall focused on the sith
rade to establish a baseline of educational culture and
behaior in middle school. we ant these kids to achiee
success, to build their condence riht from the start.”
m m f CnC aChng and Lanng
CoreScienceClass
Once the ere sure that the entire sith rade ould
enroll in Citizen Schools, Jane Lon school leaders
redesined the school da to leerae additional time for
science. Since Citizen Schools roided electies ia their
arenticeshi roram, school leaders eliminated one
of the sith-rade electie blocks and doubled science
instructional time to 90 minutes dail for sith raders.At the same time, administrators eliminated an eihth-
rade electie to double eihth-rade science time to
90 minutes eer da. Eihth rade is the testin ear
for science in Teas.
De La Rosa sa the imact on the facult riht aa.
“The are less stressed about coerin all the toics,
and the hae better classroom manaement because
the see the students eer sinle da,” she said.
Assistant princial Kendall Baile said, “The majorit of
our students are not natie Enlish seakers. Like an
other students, the need time to understand the scientic
concets, but the need een more time because the
reall strule ith the both the scientic lanuae and
limited ocabular oerall.”
Of the 240 enterin sith raders in Fall 2010, 87 ere
readin at third-rade leel or belo, and another 75
ere readin belo the fth-rade leel. The teachers
identied students’ lo readin leels and inadeuate
ras of ocabular as imortant riorities for additional
attention. The used some of the etra time to emhasize
the ocabular—callin it out, usin it in sentences, and
hihlihtin it in the interactie science notebooks.
Jill Bailer, a 28-ear eteran teacher at Jane Lon and the
science deartment head, said, “M students recentl ot
tried u b the ord ‘reect’ in a lesson elainin the
source of moonliht. The understand that the moon’s
liht comes from the sun, but the didn’t kno that
ord. Comoundin the roblem, the lack inference
skills. Throuhout their education, the hae not been
challened enouh to roblem sole. we need to build
their skills and motiation to nd the ansers the don’t
kno. with more time, e can create ood rojects that
consistentl etend the learnin, ie the kids a chance
to demonstrate hat the kno, challene them, and
build their condence oer time. we hae the chance to be
intentional about that no ith the sith rade.”
Bailer offered an eamle of a roject on the lunar ccleas a a she uses the eanded time to build hiher-
order skills. “we ae the students to das to ork on
their lunar ccle models. The orked in teams; the
ere creatie about oranizin resources; and their
understandin of the concets deeened.” Science teacher
Ella Meisner commented, “Sometimes it is durin a roject
that I can see here students do not reall understand the
scientic concet—een if the did oka on their ritten
assessment, the hae misconcetions that are reealed
throuh doin the roject, and I can correct them.”
Another imact of the increased science time is the
oortunit to increase enaement in science, bbuildin closer teacher/student relationshis, and more
broadl diersifin the teachin methods. Said Meisner,
“I reall like seein the eihth raders eer da—I am
makin deeer connections ith them.”
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Sith-rade science teacher Diann valentine uses some of
the eanded science time to test out a ne roject ith
her students. She has created an interdiscilinar unit
on store desin, ith the oal of buildin foundational
knolede for subseuent lessons on secies
classication. valentine diides her students into teams
and assins a different te of store to each team. Then sheroides the teams ith lists of tical items that ould be
found in their stores. She asks the teams to cateorize the
roducts, justif their choices, and diaram their store’s
laout. She has desined the eercise so the students are
reuired to create hierarchical classication sstems—like
the sstems that bioloists use to classif secies—but
usin familiar objects. valentine etends the lesson into
math, reuirin students to rice the roducts and create
nancial rojections. Throuhout, she emhasizes the
ocabular of commerce. Introducin the roject to the
students, valentine elains that she ants them to
roser in their careers and that this roject is intended to
teach them both about the real issues businesseole faceeer da and about the knolede and follo-throuh on
tasks reuired to be successful.
valentine assins secic roles to each team member.
“I asked the oun eole ho usuall hae the most
trouble focusin to lead their teams,” she said. The roject
is desined to last seen 90-minute class eriods and
to culminate ith the teams resentin their stores to
the class. The class is then read to moe directl into a
unit on secies classication. “M students don’t haethe backround knolede ithin hich to situate
elanations of scientic concets. This unit is desined to
create that. But e ould neer hae done this if e had
not doubled the science time,” said valentine.
Students are ecited as the embarked on the roject.
Said Luis, a sith-rade student, “we are rouin thins
different as so e kno here to nd them. we are
makin diarams. we hae to ure out the aisles and
the rices. we are doin math. I am the nancial manaer
of the store!” Ale, another sith rader, added, “I’m the
team manaer of m store. I hae to take care of the hole
roject and make sure it does not et messed u.”
CLam PLgh: dgn a a fundan f PC CLafCan
7:45 – 8:30
8:30 – 10:00
10:00 –11:30
11:30 – 12:00
12:00 – 1:30
1:30 – 2:45
2:45 – 3:00
3:00 – 4:00
4:00-4:30
4:30-5:30
mo
Electie / Adisor
Science
Math
Lunch
Social Studies
ELA
Snack
Academic Suort –Math Academic Leaue
Collee and CareerConnections
es
Electie / Adisor
Science
Math
Lunch
Social Studies
ELA
Snack
Academic Suort –DEAR, journalin, differ-entiated suort b team
Arenticeshis
Wees
Electie / Adisor
Science
Math
Lunch
Social Studies
ELA
Snack
Academic Suort – MathAcademic Leaue
Elore – ChoiceActiities
rs
Electie / Adisor
Science
Math
Lunch
Social Studies
ELA
Snack
Academic Suort –DEAR, journalin, differ-entiated suort b team
Arenticeshis
fri
Electie / Adisor
Science
Math
Lunch
Social Studies
ELA
Snack
Elore – ChoiceActiities
Je Lo pe-d cele
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46 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
Arenticeshis
ie oun eole
the oortunit to
create authenticork, to be the
leaders, and to
build condence
in their abilit and
intellience
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intellience
j g m 47
Play-oh and pipe cleaners are the supplies needed for
the “Vision and the Brain” itizen chools apprenticeship
session late on a Tuesday afternoon. itizen Teacher
auil Patel chose these siple supplies to help his
students rasp soe coplicated scientic content. They
are buildin brain odels usin Play-oh, delineatinthe different lobes of the brain by color. atasha Parekh,
a itizen chools teachin fellow, circles the roo,
answerin questions and akin sure everyone is on
track. “Who reebers the function of the occipital lobe?”
Patel queries the class. Frank, an eihth rader, calls out
“Vision!” and then turns to his copanion to note, “sn’t it
weird that the vision lobe is at the back of the head?”
sked about his experience in itizen chools, Frank
offered, “itizen chools helps e in science class. like it
because learn new thins and y friends are here. t is
fun. They also help e with y hoework. t’s not like y
other doesn’t help—she does! But itizen chools helps
e too.”
With their brain odels copleted, the 15 students
turn their attention to Patel, who is a research assistant
professor in the epartent of eurobioloy and natoyat the University of Texas medical chool. Patel anaes
the roup easily with his cal, friendly deeanor and clear
expectation that the students will aster the aterial.
e describes a diara of a nerve cell, pronouncin the
scientic nae and functions of each part, and asks the
students to build a basic cell structure usin pipe cleaners.
e circles the roo to check on their proress, askin one
student where the nucleus of his cell is and another to
explain the difference between dendrites and axons and
where each is on her odel. “These are beautiful. knew
you would be able to do this!” Patel says to the roup.
Aicsi sli: Visi A BAi
Citizen Schools Science Apprenticeships
jane on’s prora with itizen chools has rown
fro 70 students in 2009-2010 to 300 students in 2010-2011.
Fourteen full-tie teachin fellows and eiht part-tie
tea leaders staff the prora. The prora’s aor
coponents:
• monday–Thursday acadeic support sessions, or“cadeic eaues,” focus on ath at the request of
jane on school leaders;
• career and collee experiences, eld trips, and
explorations desined to help students develop future
collee and career oals; and
• twice-weekly apprenticeships.
The teachin fellows and tea leaders support the
volunteer “itizen Teachers” in leadin apprenticeships.
To keep roup size sall (15 vs. 28 durin the core acadeic
classes), itizen chools operates 36 apprenticeships perweek at jane on. itizen chools desined ore than half
of the apprenticeships to draw upon science, technoloy,
enineerin, or ath content and contexts. evelopent
of the coputin-focused apprenticeships is supported
in part by a 2010 three-year ational cience Foundation
rant to itizen chools.
For the vast aority of jane on students, participatin
in itizen chools is the rst opportunity they have ever
had to eet science professionals and enae in active
learnin connected to the Tm disciplines. aid Kathryn
ash, irector of ivic naeent for itizen chools
Texas, “They don’t know any scientists and they don’t know
what scientists do. ow they are eetin scientists and
enain in real work. This opens their eyes to possibilities
that they have never considered before.”
The apprenticeship is the centerpiece of the itizen
chools odel. ccordin to ash, apprenticeshipsive youn people the opportunity to create authentic
work, to be the leaders, and to build condence in their
ability and intellience. itizen chools requires each
apprenticeship to include the followin coponents:
1) interactive, hands on teachin; 2) explicit career
connections; 3) a focus on at least two of the followin 21st
century skills—oral presentation, teawork, leadership,
data analysis, advanced literacy, or technoloy; and 4) a
hih-quality WW!—the end product students present in
a showcase attended by their teachers and failies. The
WW! showcase is the culinatin event of the 10-week
apprenticeship. tudents are in the lead roles—presentin
their work to their failies and school-day teachers.itizen chools presents a special showcase for teachers at
3:00 Pm and then another for failies in the evenin.
“We are very intentional about uidin the content of the
apprenticeships—the lesson plans are structured and
very detailed, and we help the itizen Teachers weave in
the hands-on activities throuhout,” said ash of itizen
chools. mandy auser-gandin, itizen chools Prora
irector, explained, “We carefully choose itizen Teachers.
We need people who enoy iddle school-ae kids and can
be dynaic in front of the. We especially look for people
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48 | TgTg UT
[2% | White][5% | tate and ocal (Public)]
[17% | 21st entury ounityearnin enters ()]*
[36% | Private]
[22% | ericorp]
[20% | Title ]
[3% | sian or Pacic slander]
[10% | frican erican]
[85% | atino]
Jane long student emograph2010 – 2011
Fundng the xpanded a at Jane long2010 – 2011
*21st CCLC funds support the voluntary participation of seventh and eighthgraders in Citizens Schools at Jane Long. Cost per student for the expanded-day schedule: $2,155.
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who are learners theselves—open to hearin feedback
about their teachin. We try for collee raduates—
because we think our kids should o to collee and we
want to be role odels.”
itizen Teacher Katrina . eosaquo, a eophysicist
fro onoco Phillips, recently led a tea of enineersand eophysicists in developin and teachin an
apprenticeship on natural disasters. ach week,
eosaquo works with students to explore a different
type of phenoenon. ne week, students built volcanoes
and looked at land forations. nother week, students
ade their own structures and tested their interity
usin a leaf blower to siulate hurricane-force winds.
ater, students traveled to galveston to exaine daae
fro the 2008 urricane ke and eet with Texas &m
professors who enae in hurricane research. eosaquo
said: “We focused on teachin the kids about analyzin
data. We did soe basic earth science so they understood
about plate tectonics, but we really iniized our ‘talkin
at the’ tie. We built a odel of the earth’s plates usin
wood, sandpaper, and a bunee cord so the kids could
siulate plate oveent; we built volcanoes; and we had
the interpret earthquake data.
“The challene in teachin this ae is that they don’t
always offer feedback very well. You have to take the tie
to really know each youn person and ask in a lot of ways
to ake sure they are ettin it. oeties the lesson is
not tareted riht—too coplicated, or too easy, and you
need to readust. lso, it’s late in the afternoon—they can
be tired. t’s very hard, very frustratin, and very rewardin.You really et a sense of accoplishent workin with
the. a so proud of what they can accoplish.”
aid Principal e a osa, “The central focus is what the
kids are doin. They are workin toether—they are
dissectin sheep hearts and buildin solar cars. They are
learnin about careers and possibilities.”
assandra jones, itizen chools apus irector for
jane on, added, “ur oal is to expose kids to all kinds
of Tm content and careers and spark their enaeent
in science. ne thin we realized was how iportant
exposure is. These kids have not had the opportunitybefore to see if that spark of interest is there. o when they
feel it, they are excited.”
Jane long student subgroup 2010-2011
liible for Free/educed
Price unch 96%
iited nlish Procient 52%
nrolled in pecial ducation 12%
M s F si scic iM FFciVly
The jane on science teachers collaborate closely with
one another. “We have very structured science curricula
and we are all coverin the sae units at rouhly the sae
tie. o we know as seventh- and eihth-rade teachers,
what all the sixth raders did in science and we can build
on that. We have had coon curricula for about six
years,” said science teacher iann Valentine. “t helps usthat the science teachers are a tea; we have a positive
culture workin toether. We recreate that positive
culture in our classroos,” said science teacher gina
odriuez. The teachers receive support fro the school
adinistration and also fro the district science tea.
owever, the science teachers point out the aps in
consistency between the district’s plannin uide—
called the P-g—and the district-andated interi
assessents, which ust be adinistered every two to
three weeks. n addition to the inconsistency in content
between the assessents and what is expected to be
tauht, the assessents are perceived by the teachers
to focus priarily on lower-order thinkin and content.
dditionally, the P-g does not yet reect the chanin
Texas science standards and the statewide standardized
test. cience epartent ead jill Bailer also noted, “The
breadth of content is onerous for our kids, especially
because they have few resources to assist the at hoe.”
ne of the ost sinicant challenes for jane on
ovin forward is increasin connections between
itizen chools staff and the science faculty to ensure
that all science tie is used ost effectively. Beyond
the occasional apprenticeship led by a science teacher,or teachers choosin to attend the twice-yearly WW!
showcases, there is very little interaction between the two
roups of educators. Kendall Bailey, jane on ssistant
Principal, said, “ur faculty and the itizen chools staff
could learn a lot fro each other. The itizen chools
teachers have ore freedo over what they teach [in
the apprenticeships], and their careers are not hinin
on how well the students do on the standardized tests.
They could show our teachers how to ake their classes
ore enain, ore eaninful for the students. n
the ip side, the itizen chools staff plans reat thins
for the kids to do, and soeties they strule with
execution. ur faculty could help with content knowlede,pedaoical strateies, and classroo anaeent.”
ne challene is identifyin the tie for the tea to
work toether. n the oriinal desin, students were to be
disissed early every Friday to enable oint plannin and
professional developent aon teachers and itizen
chools staff. This plan had to be scrapped due to rant
requireents that the extended prora had to run every
day. evertheless, itizen chools apus irector assandra
jones is ovin forward. “We are already ettin ore
intentional by ephasizin scientic discourse and process
across all of our science-focused apprenticeships,” she said.
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50 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
mPaC
The eanded school da and the redesin of the schedule
to roide more core science time has ien Jane Lon
teachers and Citizen Schools staff and olunteers time
to enae students in all four of the imortant strands of
science identied in Taking Science to School and the toadditional strands emhasized in Surrounded by Science.
For eamle, the store item classication roject, hich is
desined to hel students understand the rationale behind
the as that bioloists classif liin thins, roides
an oortunit for students to articiate in Strand 3—
understand the nature and deeloment of scientic
knolede. Citizen Schools STEM arenticeshis offer
stron eamles of all four Surrounded by Science learnin
strands: creatin ecitement, interest, and motiation to
learn about henomena in the natural and hsical orld
and deeloin a sense of identit in oun eole as
science learners.
At the close of its rst ear, the eanded schedule for
Jane Lon sith raders had imacted the school in
seeral as:
• No state assessment in science is administered to
sith rade students, but the math and readin scores
of the Jane Lon sith-rade shoed considerable
imroement oer ast ears. The ercentae of sith
raders assin the Teas Assessment of Knolede
and Skills (TAKS) in math in srin 2011 rose from 70 to
77 ercent and the ercent assin ith a “commended
erformance” increased 13 to 30 ercent. Accordin tothe Teas Education Aenc, commended erformance
is considerabl aboe the state assin standard and
shos thorouh understandin of the knolede and
skills at the rade leel tested.33 prior to this ear, the
sith-rade math assae rate as increasin onl
about a ercentae oint a ear for the last four ears.
Strikinl, the ercentae of sith raders scorin in the
commended erformance rane had been decreasin
nearl 2 ercentae oints er ear oer the rior three
ears before increasin 17 oints in 2011. Readin
achieement also climbed, ith sith-rade assin
rates on the 2011 readin TAKS imroin from 63 to
73 ercent and the commended erformance rateincreasin from 16 to 26 ercent.
• The 2010-11 academic ear as the rst in nine ears
that the school eceeded its enrollment rojections for
the sith rade. On the rst da of school in Setember
2010, 200 students ere eected, and 240 shoed u.
• parent satisfaction as hih. Accordin to a arent
sure administered b Citizen Schools, 89 ercent of
resondents areed that eanded time heled their
child do better in school; 92 ercent areed that since
eanded time as imlemented, their child has triedharder to do ell in school; and 76 ercent of arents
said the main reason the ant their child attendin
an eanded-time school is for eosure to skills and
oortunities needed for his or her future. One arent
noted in ritten sure feedback: “M child has a reat
attitude, stands tall, seaks out, has reat condence,
honest, and oenness” as a result of articiatin in
Citizen Schools.
• Attendance imroed. Sith raders osted a 96 ercent
attendance rate in 2010-2011 (reresentin a 20 ercent
reduction in absenteeism). Students noted in ritten
sure feedback, “ I hae fun and do stuff I’d neer done
in m life” and “what I like about Citizen Schools is the
raise me a lot hen I do ood.”
Jane Lon facult members mentioned the difference the
sa in students’ social deeloment, communications
skills, use of ocabular, and abilit to elain and seak
condentl. “The eosure to eole, laces, ideas, outside
of their immediate neihborhood is so aluable. It is so
imortant ho Citizen Schools teaches the kids to think
about their futures and the ossibilities outside this
e-block area—hich for man constitutes their entire
orld,” said teacher gina Rodriuez.
Carlos, a sith rader, declared, “I hae nothin to do at
home. I ant to be here doin somethin.” His friend Daid
said uietl, “Citizen Schools is a art of me, like a famil,
a home. M friends are here. I am comfortable. I like the
teachers. The classes are smaller. we hae more one-on-one
time. I am comfortable sain I don’t understand, and the
hel me.”
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PCP
In March of 2011, princial Diana De La Rosa as
transferred b HISD to a ne osition as rincial of an
undererformin school, patrick Henr Middle School,
and a ne administratie team took oer manaement
of Jane Lon. The sitch in administrators is art of a
larer lan to conert Jane Lon to a manet school
serin rades 6 – 12 ith a focus on health sciences.
As art of that transition —hich is set to offer
rade 9 beinnin in Fall 2012—the current Jane Lon
administration oted to eliminate the eanded-time
roram for sith rade and return to a traditional
schedule. The future lans include offerin healthscience-related internshis for older students.
In her ne role at patrick Henr, princial De La Rosa
has continued the artnershi ith Citizen Schools
and alied for a rant to suort it. Because the rant
(a federal Title I priorit grant) as aarded for onl one
ear instead of the eected three, hoeer, patrick Henr
is not able to moe to an eanded da for all sith raders
at this time. De La Rosa hoes to nd sources to suort
eanded time in future ears and is actiel seekin ublic
and riate rants to suort the schedule eansion for
all sith raders. For no, the school offers otional after-
school enrichment ith Citizen Schools and aroimatel
200 students articiate (includin about one third of the
sith rade class). In addition, patrick Henr ill focus
attention on deeloin the science curriculum, includinrunnin a STEM fair ith arents and a STEM summer cam
for seenth raders.
The eosure to eole, laces,
ideas, outside of their immediate
neihborhood is so aluable. It isso imortant ho Citizen Schools
teaches the kids to think about theirfutures and the ossibilities outside
this e-block area—hich for manconstitutes their entire orld.”
gina Rodriuez, science teacher, Jane Lon Middle School
“
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52 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
KEy FINDINgS“what doesn’t ork is tackin on a fe more
minutes to the da and askin teachers to do
more of hat the hae been doin. That’s siml
because there has to be a more comlete chane
in the structure and content of schoolin. we need
to nd as to deeen student enaement, to
ie kids a reater sense of onershi oer their
learnin, and to reall ta into student motiation.
ELT oens u those ossibilities, and hen it is
done ell, ou are seein kids ainin a sense of
master and cometence.”
– pedro Nouera, Eecutie Director of the Metroolitan
Center for Urban Education, Ne york Uniersit
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pedro Nouera, peter L. Ane professor of Education
at Ne york Uniersit, as not secicall addressin
science education in his interie ith The After-School
Cororation last fall, but it is strikin ho much the
ke themes emerin from research on science education
intersect ith the major tenets of student-centered
edao. Each school isited for this reort is attemtinto use the eanded time for to basic uroses:
Increasingstudents’activeengagementinand
profciencywithsciencelearning
Strengtheningteachers’capacitytoimplementan
enhancedscienceprogram
These to broad aroaches, each entailin three
distinct facets, are elored in detail belo. The
ndins are dran from the insihts and information
roided b the staff from the case stud schools
as ell as obserations of scholars and the
stud authors.
m m f CnC aChng and Lanng
The initial drie for buildin in additional time in class has
been to make aailable more “time on task” for students.
Beond this objectie, hoeer, schools hae found three
secic benets of hain more time both ithin core
science classes and in etra science-themed actiities toadance their oerall science education roram.
1.alie wit te ntiol eserc
Cocil’s reports o ow stets
ler sciece, epe-tie scools
re iterti ore s-o
leri ctiities cilitti
ore scietic iscorse witi
te clssroo.
“Hands-on learnin” has become a ubiuitous hrase in
science education, and as such, it means different thins
to different eole. Karen worth, chair of the Teachin
Standards Committee of the National Science Education
Standards project, denes hands-on learnin as follos:“Hands-on learnin is not siml maniulatin thins.
It is enain in in-deth inestiations ith objects,
materials, henomena, and ideas, and drain meanin
and understandin from those eeriences.”34
Man teachers in eanded-time schools are interatin
hands-on learnin into the loner instructional blocks
in as that meet this hiher standard of scientic
inestiation. The actiities include eeriments, such
as usin ater and sand to create erosion; and rojects,
such as buildin scale-models of the solar sstem, creatin
diarams of the structure of a cell, or creatin relications
of the meado habitat. Althouh these rojects take timeto imlement correctl, the imact on students’ learnin
can be sinicant. For eamle, across the countr, fourth-
rade students ho reorted articiatin in hands-on
science actiities eer da, or almost eer da, scored an
aerae of 16 oints hiher on the 2009 Science National
Assessment of Educational proress (NAEp) than those ho
reorted neer doin hands-on actiities.35
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54 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
Althouh interation of hands-on aroaches in
science class is necessar, it is not enouh. Ready, Set,
Science! asserts, “Man teachers hae their students
do eeriments or make obserations ith the
hoe that scientic understandin ill miraculousl
emere from the data. Bein eosed to ne information,
hoeer, is not the same as understandin or interatinthat information into hat one alread knos. Real
concetual chane reuires that deeer reoranizations
of knolede occur.”36
Man teachers interieed for this reort reconized this
difference beteen information eosure and interation,
and the reiterated that the additional time as
articularl imortant for them to ensure that hands-on
actiities are surrounded b reection on science content,
attention to lanuae, and oortunities for students to
build and demonstrate understandin throuh discussion
and arument.
Said Jennifer Talor, volusia Count District public Schools
Science Secialist K-12, “These discussions are ke;
otherise it’s hat I call ‘birthda art science’—fun and
ecitin but students don’t necessaril retain the science
knolede.” Debra Turner, a third-rade teacher at TMALS
in Ne york Cit elained, “Sometimes the students et
cauht u in the eeriment and lose siht of the oint.
we need the etra time to kee them on track and kee the
focus on the science oals.”
proidin oortunities for students to deelo and
communicate their ideas throuh rou discussion anddebate is an imortant a skilled science teachers
create classrooms that emulate ho scientists ork. In
an Aril 2010 Science reie, Stanford Uniersit School
of Education professor Jonathan Osborne noted that
to ensure student discourse effectiel contributes
to learnin, teachers must teach the norms of social
interaction, model eemlar aruments, dene secic
outcomes of the discussion, hel students ask the
aroriate uestions, and identif releant and irreleant
eidence.37 The Ready, Set, Science! authors oint out
that teachers can use scientic arument and other
discourse strateies to build the caacit of linuisticall
dierse learners b “alloin time for comle ideas to be
eressed, listened to, reeated, re-oiced, and resonded
to at lenth.”38
School leaders and teachers at the roled schools soke
about ho the eanded time has enabled them to createan enironment that allos students to make mistakes
and eamine hat the hae learned as a result, rather
than rushin throuh the material. Seeral teachers across
different schools ointed out that creatin an enironment
in hich mistakes are elcomed as oortunities to
learn emulates ho scientists enae ith their on
material. As Sharon Llod, a teacher at Starke Elementar
in volusia Count, eressed, “we must be illin to allo
the students to make mistakes and to make mistakes
ourseles. There is aluable learnin in makin a mistake.
Science is not a erfect thin.”
These teachers also are uidin their students to ork in
a scientic communit of their eers. Starke Elementar
teacher Cind McNair said, “In addition to the science
content, one of m oals is to teach students to ork
as cooeratie artners, so the are familiar ith the
scientic rocess. workin this a is the same as ho
scientists aroach their ork.” Trais Bacon, a pierson
fth-rade teacher, said, “M students need to ork on
resectin each other and treatin each other as members
of a communit. The need life and social skills. we need
the etra time for this. we need to slo eerthin don
and brin students toether to talk and enae in self-
reection. That’s a reat a for us to nd out: Hae theinternalized the learnin?”
Therefore, throuh hands-on learnin students can deeen
their master of science content and the scientic rocess
b enain in inestiations and discoer; atherin and
resentin eidence; defendin and elainin their ideas
in classroom discussions; and orkin roductiel ith
their eers. In other ords, students in eanded-time
schools are enain in science learnin that blends the
National Research Council’s four science learnin strands.
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2.ecers i epe-tie scools re
si te etr tie to ipleet specic
strteies to coter eciecies i
rei leels, cro cotet,
oclr, wic ote re prooce
o i-poert, lis-le-
lerer stet popltios.
Man teachers and administrators ointed to as in
readin skill, backround contet, and knolede of
both scientic discourse and eneral ocabular as
sinicant challenes for students. Said Siobhan gordon,
a rst- rade teacher at Thurood Marshall Academ
Loer School (TMALS) in Ne york Cit, “we need to build
their ocabular and eose them to ne eeriences so
the hae oortunities to broaden their lanuae and
ersectie. we need to build their knolede so hen
the are readin the hae a broader contet to aroach
the material.” She roided an eamle: “Man don’t kno
hat a relace is; hen a uestion on the test refers to a
relace, the don’t kno hat to do.”
The need to boost readin rocienc has drien school
leaders across the countr to eand instructional time in
Enlish lanuae arts, sometimes at the eense of science
time. Some researchers uestion that dichotom, ointinout that literac skills are best acuired and understood
as learnin tools that suort acuisition of knolede
across discilines. These researchers cite eamles of
efforts to interate literac and science instruction,
ith the results benettin student cometencies in
both areas.39
At Matthe Kuss Middle School in Fall Rier,
Massachusetts, the focus is on ritin ractice across all
academic areas and eandin the students’ knolede
of ocabular broadl. Said Sarah Chain, a Kuss science
teacher, “we hae found that sometimes ke ords in
the test uestion are unfamiliar, for eamle: tradeoffs,
conestion, interchaneable. In each instance, students
did not kno the ord and couldn’t understand the
uestion, een thouh e are condent the did
understand the scientic concet. So e are orkin on
ocabular and inference skills.”
At TMALS in Ne york and at pierson and Starke in volusia
Count, the science lessons include uided readin and
buildin students’ decodin and inference strateies. At
Jane Lon in Houston, the “science lanuae oals” of each
lesson are emhasized, reeated, and reinforced multile
times. Jane Lon’s teachers also reconize the imact of
increasin roject-based learnin on the abilit of Enlish
lanuae learners to ras the material. Diann valentine,
a science teacher at Jane Lon, said, “M sith raders
recentl comleted models of the solar sstem. The
eamined the sun and rominences, asteroids, meteorites,
and comets. After this roject, m Enlish lanuae
learners ae a much better, more detailed elanation of
this on Enlish rocienc assessments then I hae eer
seen in the ast.”
The schools also are makin efforts to connect classroom
material to the “real orld.” Ready, Set, Science! identies
connectin “students’ eerda thinkin, knolede, and
resources to racticin scientists” as a ke strate for
romotin eualit in classroom discourse ith multi-
cultural oulations.40 In doin this, teachers also are
linkin ne ideas to rior knolede and eeriences.
Forin such a link is one instructional and curricular
feature that can suort students in deeloin literac inthe contet of science, accordin to researchers. “Elicitin
rior knolede becomes eseciall imortant hen
concets are abstract, hen scientic rinciles seem
distant from students’ eerda lies, and hen students’
eeriences lead them to deelo inaccurate ideas,” assert
Joseh Krajcik and LeeAnn Sutherland of the Uniersit of
Michian in an Aril 2010 Science reie article.41 Said fth-
rade pierson Elementar teacher Trais Bacon, “Tomorro
e ill be outside ith the arden hose in the dirt to see
ho erosion occurs. Our students strule ith alin
science to life, so e tr to make the eamles concrete.”
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56 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
3. ot epe-tie ile scools
icle i tis st, stets were
coosi ro set o sciece electies
ie t icresi eeet, erici
te core sciece cotet, creti
coectios to sciece creers role
oels (relti irectl to ntiol
eserc Cocil reports o ot orl
iorl sciece leri). ese
two ile scools e crete orl-
iorl collortios to elier tis
ro re o sciece-se electies.
Both middle schools studied—Kuss and Jane Lon—
desined electies to relicate the mied-ae, actie,
hands-on learnin enironments found in hih-ualit out-
of-school time rorams. Their rimar oal is fosterin
enaement in science, and research shos that eihth
raders ho demonstrate interest in STEM are three times
more likel to later ursue derees in STEM elds.42 The
president’s Council of Adisors on Science and Technoloasserted in their Setember 2010 reort on imroin K-12
STEM education, “Students need oortunities to establish
deeer enaement ith and to learn science and
mathematics in non-standard, ersonal, and team-
oriented as that etend beond the curriculum and
the classroom. This is eseciall ital for identifin and
nurturin hih achieers and future STEM innoators.”43
At Jane Lon, the electies—in the form of
“arenticeshis”—are deliered b local olunteerrofessionals throuh Citizen Schools. At Kuss Middle
School, science facult members teach the electies
on subjects of their on choosin. Kuss facult hae
artnered ith eternal oranizations, includin
Urban Ecolo, the Harard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrohsics, and project Oceanolo, to roide
curricular materials and rofessional deeloment
suortin secic electies.
Career connections are an imortant comonent of the
electies and arenticeshis. The scientists teachin
arenticeshis throuh Citizen Schools can become role
models for Jane Lon students. Most of these students
are meetin a orkin scientist for the rst time, and the
fact that man of the scientists reect the students’ on
racial and ethnic heritae makes it all the more ossible
for students to enision such otential career athas
for themseles. Brinin STEM rofessionals into the
classroom—not just for a one-time isit, but in actie
teachin roles oer time—can be a oerful strate
to counter the lack of social caital that reents lo-
income and minorit oun eole from considerin
STEM careers.44 At Kuss Middle School as ell, teachers
make a oint to emhasize the career ossibilities. Kuss
science teacher Jennifer Berube, ho teaches the Forensicselectie, noted, “I make sure students understand the
career otential in forensics. Otherise, the neer assume
this is a ossibilit for them.”
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m uPP f ung CnC m ffCvLy
Some of the schools eamined in this reort hae built
time in their eanded schedules to increase their suort
for teachers to hel them make the most effectie use
of science time. Other schools roled here resere
the eanded time eclusiel for instruction, etadministrators look for as to imlement increased
suort for teachers ithin eistin “teacher time.
As described belo, such suorts include access to:
(a) rofessional deeloment tools and trainin to
hel teachers use student assessment data to drie
instructional decisions and (b) curricula that are
uniform across the district and maed to state
standards and assessments.
1.pporte eterl prters, scool
istricts, /or scool leers, tecers
i epe-tie scools re prticipti
i proessiol eelopet ocse
o iproi cotet owlee
peoicl sill.
Most teachers in the roled schools anted accessto better and more tareted science rofessional
deeloment, and school leaders areed, citin barriers
of mone, time, and lack of ood ualit otions. In man
laces, teachers lled the as b creatin eer suort
rous, hich are often led b the eteran science teachers
and center on eer learnin echanes and obserations.
Outard-lookin, artnershi-oriented ersecties on
the art of school leaders and/or eteran teachers enabled
access to man free or lo-cost eternal rofessional
deeloment resources—includin After-School Science
plus and assistance from the Abssinian Deeloment
Cororation’s STEM Director for TMALS in Ne york; theUrban Ecolo Institute, Harard-Smithsonian Center
for Astrohsics, and project Oceanolo for Kuss in
Massachusetts; and Stetson Uniersit rofessors for
Starke Elementar in Florida. The volusia Count school
district science secialists also la an actie role in
offerin rofessional deeloment oortunities that are
directl alined ith the district’s science curricula and
ell-rearded b teachers. This district’s oal, in the near
future, is to streamline and focus trainin oortunities,
in science and across the curriculum.
Accordin to TMALS staff, enrollin a team of teachers
in rofessional deeloment that as actuall desinedfor after-school educators orked ell, because it
enabled the teachers to build their skills and condence in
facilitatin inuir-based lessons in a more accessible and
loer-stakes enironment than formal K-12 rofessional
deeloment ould hae offered. Hain a school leader
that reconized this and elcomed the “after-school”
curricula into the school as an imortant factor in
creatin success at TMALS.
2.iter s prt o epe-tie
iititie, or s prt o prllel reor
eorts, tecers i epe-tie scools
re si stet ssesset t to rie
istrctiol iproeet.
Kuss Middle School has anchored its oerall school
redesin in increasin teachers’ abilit to analzeformatie assessment data to drie instructional
imroement. For this reason, Kuss allocates art of its
eanded time for teachers to articiate in data analsis
teams. “Usin data to imroe our ractice is like
breathin no,” said Cind wrobel, a Kuss science teacher.
Throuh the Massachusetts Eanded Learnin Time
Initiatie, Kuss accesses free trainin, drain from the
resources of Massachusetts 2020 and Focus on Results
(oranizations that ork directl ith schools to facilitate
imroement) to build teacher and administrator skills
in this area. No, Kuss science teachers are leadin the
deeloment of interim science assessments that ill be
used across the district.
volusia Count reseres the “plus One” hour for instruction,
rather than time secicall for teachers to analze data
and al ndins to their instruction (althouh the 16
teacher rofessional deeloment das oer the course of
the ear are etended b one hour each in plus One schools).
Hoeer, the district has deel enaed school leaders
and teachers in usin data to understand hat students are
learnin. The science team reuires third-, fourth-, and fth-
rade teachers to administer eiht interim assessments oer
the course of the ear and has roided the teachers ith
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58 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
uidance documents and data analsis sheets to hel them
analze the data durin their collaboratie lannin time.
Launchin the performance Matters sstem to analze
student data is the net major ste for volusia Count. Thissstem ill track state assessments and district interim
assessments in Enlish lanuae arts, math, and science. In
this a, the ne softare ill free teachers from comletin
data analsis b hand and enable them to send more time
lannin and ealuatin instructional resonses to the
data. performance Matters also ill roide a major tool for
customizin rofessional deeloment for each teacher—
not just in science, but oerall—as student assessments are
analzed to understand indiidual teacher needs.
3.ecers i epe-tie scools re
wori i tes to esre tt core
sciece crricl re ior cross teir
clssroos ppe to istrict
stte strs ssessets.
All the schools roled in this reort hae created uniform
science curricula oer the ast seeral ears. The haemoed toard increasin the consistenc of hat and
ho science is tauht across their classrooms and, in
some cases, across their schools as ell. Kuss teachers are
no orkin ith elementar and hih school teachers
to erticall alin the science curricula K-12 and comlete
an analsis of an as beteen the curricula and the
Massachusetts state science standards. The volusia Count
district roduces a science curricula ma keed to the
Florida state standards for each rade. Jane Lon teachers
lan their acin toether so the are all coerin the
same units on rouhl the same das. And the teachers
of Thurood Marshall in Ne york Cit ork ith Eeln
Roman, the Abssinian Deeloment Cororation STEMdirector, to alin the science curricula in core academic
classes ith afternoon science enrichments.
naL faC f uCC
The authors of this reort obsered the folloin four
ke characteristics that contribute to each of the schools’
success in leerain the eanded time for imroed
science instruction.
1. Leers wo prioritie sciece resorces to
spport it: with the focus oer the last decade on ELA
and math assessments, too fe schools hae rioritized
science. yet, in each of these schools under stud, the
rincials, assertin that science rocienc is euall
imortant to children’s learnin, hae shifted nancial
and staff resources to imroin science instruction.
For eamle, at Jane Lon Middle School in Houston,
then-rincial Diana De La Rosa ae u an assistant
rincial osition to fund the Citizen Schools eanded
da roram. Meanhile, Florida’s volusia Count
deotes 20 ercent of its Title I resources to the nine plus
One schools (out of 68 Title I schools), and has increased
its sendin on science instruction, desite a district
curriculum budet decrease from $7 million in 2007 to $2
million in 2010.
2. cool tes wit itesit o prpose
williess to te riss: Teachers, school leaders, and
eternal artners at the eanded-time schools hae an
intensit of urose as the restle ith the comle
challene of increasin student achieement in science
and other academic areas. In each school, eandin the
schedule reresented a major disrution of the status
uo and reuired an enormous inestment of time,talent, and resources. Still, eerone ho articiated
in this stud—school leaders, teachers, students, and
eternal artners—talked aroinl of the benets of
hain more time.
3. Coitet to iproi teci: Eanded
learnin time is roin to be a oerful dra for
stron science teachers. In some schools, the hae the
chance to desin and teach electies beond their core
academic classes and articiate in artnershis and
rofessional deeloment focused on science toics of
their on choice. In all schools, teachers hae the time
to dele deel into scientic content and rocess intheir core academic science classes. veteran science
teachers are creatin artnershis ith eternal science
oranizations, mentorin noice teachers, deeloin
innoatie lesson lans, leadin discussions of student
assessment data, and enain in eanded eer
obserations.
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4. forl-iorl collortios tt eric sciece
teci leri: Some schools hae leeraed
eanded learnin time to create or deeen formal-
informal collaborations that hae transformed their
aroach to science instruction and enriched theirscience course offerins. These artnershis are aimed
at sarkin student enaement in science throuh
actie learnin connected to real-orld situations and
broadenin student ersectie about science careers
b hain them ork ith, and learn from, scientists.
Because the collaborations haen durin the school
da, all students hae access to, and benet from,
these eeriences, not just those ho miht hae
chosen to enroll in after-school rorammin or in the
informal science rorammin offered b one of the
artner oranizations. School leaders also hae been
sa about choosin their artners, tain into the
resources and eertise of oranizations that hae
embraced the mission of imroin science enaement
and rocienc amon under-reresented oulations,
and the leaders hae arnered national and local ublic
and riate resources to imlement their ideas. These
artner oranizations include Citizen Schools, The
After-School Cororation, Abssinian Deeloment
Cororation, the Harard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrohsics, and the Urban Ecolo Institute. In some
cases, these oranizations hae brouht not onl
resources and eertise; the also hae introduced their
school artners to ne strateies for assessin student
outcomes that o beond standardized tests or radesto measure enaement in science and students’ sense
of themseles as caable of ursuin science careers.
As a result of these core elements and the as in hich
the hae led school leaders to manae learnin time,
four out of the e schools in this stud hae shon
increased science rocienc leels, as measured b state
standardized tests. (Jane Lon Middle School in Houston
eerienced the eanded time schedule for onl one ear,
thus it ill be difcult to assess the imact of the initiatie
on eihth-rade science test scores.) As detailed in the case
studies, additional imacts of lenthenin the school da
hae included increased enrollment, attendance, ositiebehaior, arental inolement, and student enaement
in science.
Cnnung ChaLLng
Een ith these successes, the roled schools are
facin similar challenes in their efforts to create better
outcomes for students—both in science achieement and
enaement and in oerall academic and ersonal success.
These four challenes are:
1. proi te qlit o sciece teci: Transformin
science classrooms so the more closel emulate ho
scientists o about their ork—as articulated in the
National Research Council’s Science Learnin Strands—
is a comle endeaor. Chanin sstem-leel factors,
such as standards and assessments, to more closel
alin ith a hiher-order, comrehensie ision of
science rocienc ill ensure that teachers are not
forced to emhasize content oer scientic rocess.
In addition, ood rofessional deeloment is needed
across the board. The most effectie teachers in the
rou of schools studied hae had stron suort from
district science teams, or from eternal science artners,
to build their scientic knolede and imroe their
edaoical aroaches oer time.
2. ercoi i-poert lis-le-lerer
stets’ eciecies i rei sill, cro
cotet, ersti ot te scietic
iscorse ore eerl oclr: Teachers in
eer school hae used etra time to interate secic
strateies aimed at issues facin Enlish lanuae
learners. Nearl all teachers interieed for this reort
considered such issues their major obstacle to successand ere searchin for more effectie aroaches.
For a secial section in Science maazine in 2010,
researchers elored the toics of science, lanuae,
and literac, and offered aruments in suort of a rane
of ractices, such as teachin in the students’ natie
lanuae in the earl rades; redesinin science tets;
and imlementin a number of secic aroaches
shon to hae ositie imact.45 Broader dissemination
of this emerin knolede is needed, so that teachers,
district science secialists, and school leaders hae the
chance to ut into ractice hat researchers in science
and literac education are learnin. In addition, more
research must be conducted to elore ho learninoortunities should be desined to build a stroner and
broader backround contet for lo-income children, so
the can better scaffold knolede and skills in science
and in other academic areas.
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60 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
3. ali sciece electies wit core cotet: In some
cases, the schools that offer science electies hae not
et made stron connections beteen these electies
and their core science curricula. Elorin ho to make
those connections is an onoin challene, both for
schools ith electies deliered b eternal artners
(Jane Lon), and those here the electies are tauhtb teachers (Kuss). Additionall, understandin ho to
assess the imact of the electies is an area that needs
more attention. Althouh the electies are not strictl
informal or after-school rorams, their desin and
delier has man similar attributes, includin the fact
that students in electies are not tested or raded in the
same as as the are in core science classes. Recent
ork b the National Research Council, the National
Academies of Science, and the proram in Education,
After-school and Resilienc (pEAR) at Harard Uniersit
and McLean Hosital has roided ideas on ho to
assess not onl conitie outcomes, but also attitudinal,
behaioral, and social outcomes from informal science
eeriences.46 The schools and their artners could
otentiall adat these lessons to their eanded-time
electies in an effort to better understand hether the
electies are delierin on their romise to enhance
science enaement and cometenc.
4. aciei cil stilit: The schools in this stud
hae been creatie in leerain resources to eand
learnin time. with an unstable budet outlook,
hoeer, it ill likel be more difcult to sustain and
eand the number of students sered. volusia Count
has seen their Title I fundin reduced in recent ears,
as their numbers of children in oert hae declined,and further Title I decreases could imact the future
of the plus One roram. In Massachusetts, the Kuss
Middle School relies on annual leislatie aroriation
for ELT fundin. Thus far, state leaders hae remained
committed to the roram, but increasin budet
ressures could imact the Kuss ELT roram. TMALS
in Ne york Cit has funded its eanded time throuh
multile ublic and riate sources and must contend
ith the onoin threat of seere budet cuts and the
difcult of sustainin riate hilanthroic inestment
oer the lon-term. The short tenure of eanded
time at Jane Lon in Houston is an eamle of ho a
roram chamioned mainl b a sinle school leader
is etremel ulnerable hen that leader moes on. No
school in this stud has et accessed a a to fund the
eanded schedule that is comletel interated ith
the core er-uil budet and thus more insulated from
annual ariations in fundin.
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policmakers, education reformers, and science educators
are orkin hard to chane the a science is tauht
in America. Increased ublic and arental aareness
about the imortance of science; strenthenin science
standards, assessments, and curricula; and oortunities
that inole students in informal and out-of-school time
science all romise to hel roduce more knoledeable,
enaed raduates ho ill become the inentors and
innoators of tomorro.
Hoeer, as lon as time for science instruction continues
to be sueezed, een these strateies ill likel fall
short of moin the needle on the science enaement
and rocienc of American students across the board.
without fundamentall restructurin the school
calendar—articularl at the elementar and middle
school leels—to add more learnin time and then
rioritizin science durin that time, most American
students ill siml not become either rocient in, or
ecited about, science.
Usin a rane of strateies, the eanded-time schools
eamined in this reort hae demonstrated that additional
time can brin about marked chane in students’ science
eeriences and rocienc. The schools also are offerin
teachers more suort to use science time effectiel—
throuh meaninful rofessional deeloment, solid
instructional leadershi, innoatie artnershis, hih-
ualit assessments, and curricula that meet indiidual
students’ needs.
This sinicant ork must be strenthened, sustained,
and scaled to continue to offer useful lessons to science
education reformers. Additional analsis and solutions
that address common challenes also ill benet the
increasin number of schools and districts currentl
considerin eandin their school da and ear. Man
more imlementation models are needed to uide the
efforts of schools and districts to add time in as that ill
roduce ositie outcomes for students, in science alon
ith other discilines. policmakers should rioritize
fundin that suorts eanded time, so that schools can
effectiel imlement those models that ill hae the
reatest imact on students.
The otential imact of eanded science time is reected
in the comments of Amira, a sith rader: “I asn’t that
ood at science before, but no I see that different as
of teachin are more interestin and hel me learn. I like
the fun, hands-on eeriments that hel to elain thins.”
She continued, “It also hels me hen teachers take thetime to make connections to m real life, tell me about m
career, and hel me think about the future.”
THE pROMISE OF MORE
TIME FOR SCIENCE
61SCIENCE EDUCATION AND THE CALL FOR MORE TIME |
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62 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
“I asn’t that ood at science
before, but no.... I like the fu
hands-on eeriments that
hel to elain thins. It alsohels me hen teachers take
the time to make connections
to m real life, tell me about
m career, and hel me think
about the future.”– Amira, a sith rader
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ndn
1 National Center for Education Statistics (2011). The Nation’s
Report Card: Science 2009 (NCES 2011–451). Institute
of Education Sciences, U.S. Deartment of Education,
washinton, DC; National Science Foundation, National
Center for Science and Enineerin Statistics (2010).Science and Engineering Indicators 2010, Chapter 2.
International S&E Higher Education. Arlinton, vA (NSB 10-
01).
2 Nation’s Report Card , . 9 and . 12.
3 National Center for Education Statistics. The 2007 Trends in
International Mathematics and Science Study. washinton,
DC: Author.
4 Science and Engineering Indicators, 2010.
5 Banerjee, R. and Mule, v.p. (2007). Engineering Education in
India Mumbai, India: ITT Bomba.
6 Science and Engineering Indicators , Chater 3. Science
& Enineerin Labor Force. Sidebar: Projected Growth of
Employment in S&E Occupations.
7 Ibid. International S&E Higher Education.
8 McMurrer, J. (2008). NCLB Year 5: Instructional Time in
Elementary Schools: A Closer Look at Changes for Specic
Subjects. washinton, DC: Center for Education polic.
9Kolbe, T., partride, p. and O’Reill, F. (2011). Time and
Learning in Schools: A National Prole. National Center
on Time & Learnin and the Center for Education polic
Analsis, Uniersit of Connecticut.
10Dorh, R., goldstein, D., Lee, S., Leori, K., Schneider, and
S., venkatesan, S. (2007). The Status of Science Education in
the Bay Area: Research Brief. Berkele, CA: Larence Hall of
Science, Uniersit of California.
11Johnson, A. “Makin science elementar: Schools ork hard
to t lessons into bus da.” The Boston Globe , March 4,
2011.
12Center on Education polic. (2010). State High School Tests:
Exit Exams and Other Assessments washinton, DC: Author.
13National Research Council. (2007). Taking Science to School:
Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8. Committee
on Science Learnin, Kinderarten throuh Eihth grade.
Richard A. Duschl, Heidi A. Scheinruber, and Andre w.
Shouse, Editors. Board on Science Education, Center for
Education. Diision of Behaioral and Social Sciences and
Education. washinton, DC: The National Academies press.
14Michaels, S., Shouse A.w. and Scheinruber, H.A. (2008).
Ready, Set, Science! Putting Research to Work in K-8
Classrooms. Board on Science Education, Center for
Education, Diision of Behaioral and Social Sciences
and Education. washinton, DC: The National Academiespress, . 57.
15Taking Science to School, . 37.
16Ibid. . 21.
17president’s Council of Adisors on Science and Technolo
(2010). Report to the President: Prepare and Inspire: K-12
Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math
(STEM) for America’s Future , .12.
18Tai, R. H., Liu, C.q., Maltese, A.v. & Fan, x. (2006). “plannin
earl for careers in science,” Science 26 Ma 2006. vol 312,
no. 5777, . 1143-1144.
19Bell, p., Leenstein, B., Shouse A. and Feder, M., Editors.
(2009). Learning Science in Informal Environments: People,
Places and Pursuits. Committee on Learning Science in
Informal Environments , Board on Science Education,
Center for Education, Diision of Behaioral and Social
Sciences and Education. washinton, DC: The National
Academies press, . 2 and 4.
20Fenichel, M., and Scheinruber, H.A. (2010). Surrounded by
Science: Learning Science in Informal Environments. Boardon Science Education, Center for Education, Diision of
Behaioral and Social Sciences and Education. washinton,
DC: The National Academies press.
21Bean, B. ith Dillon, J., Hein, g.E., Macdonald, M.,
Michalchik, v., Miller, D., Root, D., Rudder, L., xanthoudaki,
M., & yoon, S. (2010). Making Science Matter: Collaborations
Between Informal Science Education Organizations and
Schools. A CAISE Inuir grou Reort. washinton, DC:
Center for Adancement of Informal Science Education
(CAISE).
22See National Center on Time & Learnin (2011), LearningTime in America: Trends to Reform the American School
Calendar Boston, MA: Author.
23Checkoa, A., et al. (2011). Evaluation of the Expanded
Learning Time Initiative Year Four Integrated Report: 2009-
10 Cambride, MA: Abt Associates.
24weihted for school size and rounded u to the nearest
hole number.
25The Triod project administers student, teacher and arent
sures and analzes the data to hel schools measure the
imact of effectie teachin and student enaement.
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64 | STRENgTHENINg SCIENCE EDUCATION
26 For more information on Ne york Cit’s rincial
emoerment model, see htt://schools.nc.o/ofces/
emoerment/default.htm
27 Friedman, L. and quinn, J. “Ho After-School prorams
Can Nurture youn Scientists and Boost the Countr’s
Scientic Literac.” Education Week , Februar 22, 2006.
28 Donner, J. and Moran, E. (2010). Collaboratie for
Buildin After-School Sstems Frontiers in Urban
Science Eloration Resource guide. .8. htt://.
afterschoolsstems.or/content/document/detail/3040/,
retrieed Aril 2011. The criteria ere also informed
bthe ork of great Science for girls, a National Science
Foundation-funded roject of the Educational Euit
Center at the Academ for Educational Deeloment.
29Interie ith Saskia Traill, The After-School Cororation,
Aril 2011; The After-School Cororation. (2010). Unlocking
the Power of Expanded Learning Time: Year Two Report.
Ne york: Author.
30htt://.tascor.or/section/aboutus/mission,
retrieed Ma 2011.
31 See Farbman, D. (2011). Harnessing the Power of
Expanded Time to Improve Schools. Boston, MA: National
Center on Time & Learnin. Aailable at: htt://.
timeandlearnin.or/?=node/99.
32 Roers, S. (2005). “Suerneihborhood 27: A Brief Histor
of Chane.” Places , 17(2). Collee of Enironmental Desin,Uniersit of California, Berkele, CA.
33 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills:
Understanding the Condential Student Report, A Guide
for Parents , 2011. htt://.tea.state.t.us/student.
assessment/taks/csr/, retrieed June 2011.
34Haur, D. and Rillero, p. (1994). “persecties of Hands-On
Science Teachin.” The ERIC Clearinhouse for Science,
Mathematics and Enironmental Education. posted to the
North Central Reional Laborator’s pathas to School
Imroement internet serer. htt://.ncrel.or/sdrs/
areas/issues/content/cntareas/science/eric/eric-1.htm,retrieed March 2011.
35The National Assessment of Educational proress
Data Elorer: htt://nces.ed.o/nationsreortcard/
naedata/reort.as, retrieed Ma 2011.
36Ready, Set, Science! , . 41.
37Osborne, J. (2010). “Aruin to Learn in Science: The Role
of Collaboratie, Critical Discourse.” Science , 328(5977),
463-466.
38Ready, Set, Science! , . 101-102.
39pearson, p. D., Moje, E., & greenleaf, C. (2010). “Literac
and science: Each in the serice of the other.” Science,
328(5977), 459-463.
40Ready, Set, Science! , . 101.
41Krajcik, J. and Sutherland, L. (2010). “Suortin Students
in Deeloin Literac in Science.” Science , 328(5977),
456-459.
42A. v. Maltese and Tai, R.H. (2010). “Eeballs in the Fride:
Sources of Earl Interest in Science.” International Journal
of Science Education , 32:669–685.
43president’s Council of Adisors on Science and Technolo
(2010). Report to the President: Prepare and Inspire: K-12
Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math
(STEM) for America’s Future. .96.
44National Science Foundation Final worksho Reort
(2005). Pathway to STEM Careers: Preparing the STEM
Workforce of the 21st Century, Broadening Participation
Through a Comprehensive, Integrated System. htt://
.seas.u.edu/~stem/STEMreort_March05.df,
retrieed Ma 2011.
45pearson, p. D., Moje, E., & greenleaf, C. Amon the
aroaches cited ere: Concet-Oriented Readin
Instruction (CORI), In-deth Eanded Alications of
Science (Science IDEAS), guided Inuir suortinMultile Literacies (gIsML), Seeds of Science—Roots
of Readin and Readin Arenticeshi. An article in
the same issue of Science b Catherine Sno (. 450-
452) also referenced word generation, htt://.
ordeneration.or, a roram for middle school
students deeloed b the Strateic Education Research
partnershi that embeds all-urose academic ords in
interestin toics and roides actiities for use in math,
science and social studies as ell as Enlish lanuae arts
classes.
46Hussar, K., Schartz, S., Boiselle, E. and Noam, g. (2008).
Toward a Systematic Evidence-Base for Science in Out-of-School Time: The Role of Assessment. The proram in
Education, After-school and Resilienc (pEAR) at Harard
Uniersit and McLean Hosital; and Friedman, A. (Ed.).
(2008). Framework for Evaluating Impacts of Informal
Science Education Projects. htt://insci.or/resources/
Eal_Frameork.df, retrieed Ma 2011 and Assessment
Tools in Informal Science: Ratings and Reviews: htt://
.eareb.or/atis.
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The National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL) is
dedicated to expanding learning time to improve student
achievement and enable a well-rounded education.
Through research, public policy, and technical assistance,
we support national, state, and local initiatives that add
significantly more school time to help children meet the
demands of the 21st century.
LEAD AUTHOR
Kathleen Traphagen
Consultant
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Jennifer Davis
Co-Founder and President, National Center on Time &
Learning
David Farbman
Senior Researcher, National Center on Time & Learning
Claire Kaplan
Vice President for Knowledge Management and Strategy,
National Center on Time & Learning
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The National Center on Time & Learning gratefully
acknowledges the Noyce Foundation for supporting the
publication of this report.
The Noyce Foundation aims to help young people become
curious, thoughtful, and engaged learners. The Noyce
Foundation focuses on a few key areas: improving the
teaching of math, science, and literacy in public schools;
develping leadership to support student achievment;
education policy and research; and, finally, on expanding
opportunities for students to experience hands-on science
in out-of-school settings.
We thank the following individuals for their guidance and
insights in developing this study:
Ron Ottinger
Executive Director, Noyce Foundation
Linda Rosen
Executive Director, Change the Equation
Cary Sneider
Associate Research Professor, Portland State University;
Advisor, Noyce Foundation
Claus von Zastrow
Chief Operating Officer and Director of Research,
Change the Equation
We also appreciate the contributions of members of the
NCTL team, including:
Blair Brown
Director of Communications and External Affairs
George Mastoras
Program Associate
Diane Sherlock
Editorial Director
Thomas Zorich
Program Associate
Finally, we are very grateful to the administrators,
teachers, partners, and students in the five profiled
schools for generously sharing their valuable time with us,
welcoming us into their schools, sharing photographs, and
demonstrating their commitment to improving science
education for all students.
Electronic copies of both the full report and executive
summary are available at: www.timeandlearning.org.
Printed copies can be obtained by calling (617) 378-3940.
Strengthening Science Education: The Power of More Time
To Deepen Inquiry and Engagement
Fall 2011
NATIONAL CENTER ON
TIME & LEARNING
5/11/2018 NCTL Strengthening Science 1111 - slidepdf.com
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/nctl-strengthening-science-1111 68/68
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