ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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There is a window of opportunity to address this with districts right
now.  If you want to have an impact, though, go with data.  Look at the
districts in Imperial County, CA (Valle Imperial Project), Charleston,
SC, Green Bay, WI (Edison Project), Fresno, CA, and Dade County, FL.
All of these districts are showing a positive impact on student
achievement and the achievement gap from a systematic approach to
teacher professional development and student opportunity to learn.  The
Imperial Valley case is a particularly interesting one because they
demonstrate conclusively that a strong program of elementary science
produces powerful literacy gains (2 standard deviations on the state
test) in high-poverty, high-minority, high-ESL districts.  See
http://csmp.ucop.edu/csp/imperial-valley/resources.php and scroll down
to Articles at the bottom.

Although political climates will undoubtedly swing again, accountability
has broad support and some form of accountability is here to stay.
Science centers that want to retain active school programs ought to be
at the forefront of adapting to this reality.  Active partnerships with
school districts require us to accept our share of their accountability.
For example, as part of a teacher professional development program, I am
now accountable for student achievement in the classrooms of those
teachers.  If they don't show gains, I don't get more money, regardless
of how many extenuating circumstances there might be.  It's easy to see
the negatives in this arrangement, but there are some real positives as
well.  I am far more interested in what is going on in those teachers'
classrooms than I might otherwise be, the school district science
coordinator and I have become allies, and the professional development
for the teachers has been significantly deepened by questions of how,
exactly, are we going to know what students have learned.

Dave Smith, Director of Professional Development, Da Vinci Discovery
Center

-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Beryl Rosenthal
Sent: Friday, December 02, 2005 8:32 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: school program numbers


ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology
Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
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*****

>I get a lot of anecdotal comments about this.  Empirical or not, the
>bottom line is, if the teachers can't come out because that is what 
>they have been told, there is a valuable lesson there.  I have found 
>that some districts, ie the ones that typically do well on the 
>tests, continue to visit. Those that are in trouble, ie the ones 
>that do poorly on the tests, have come less and less.  If you want 
>empirical studies, just look at the list of schools who come and 
>don't come, and note note the districts they represent, (which 
>frankly, has high correlation to economics).  It's pretty damn sad 
>when the districts and kids who could really benefit from 
>inquiry-based experiences can't get it because they are busy being 
>taught how to respond to a test question so their school scores will 
>go up.  That's not learning, that's propaganda.

Now would you like to know how I really feel???

Beryl





>SEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology 
>Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and 
>related institutions.
>***********************************************************************
******
>
>I have one comment and one question about this discussion:
>
>1) (Comment): I agree with Alexis's statement that informal educators 
>should be involved in education policy. I would also add that we should

>be involved with educational research (at least reading it) to inform 
>our involvement with policy. Alexis noted that teachers might be 
>"dropping the fun, hands-on stuff to focus more time on test materials 
>and test-taking skills". Although some of the readers of this list 
>might scoff, I think that one of the best things we might be able to 
>do, vis-a-vis policy, is to help argue that the "fun, hands-on stuff" 
>actually helps kids to learn what they "need to" learn. I haven't seen 
>any empirical evidence to suggest that inquiry-centered activity (in 
>the classroom or elsewhere) helps kids to perform better on 
>standardized tests. That might be nice to have. Being comfortable with 
>such research would require, of course, that the tests actually assess 
>what the readers of this list would probably say qualifies as 
>"important". Therein lies another possible policy challenge for us as 
>informal educators: to provide evidence (or at least use other people's
>evidence) to support curriculum and testing decisions that come as
close as
>possible to supporting a definition of "science literacy" that we can
>accept.
>
>2) (Question): For Beryl (and others who have noted that "teachers now 
>have to justify the trip and pretty much guarantee that the visit will 
>result in substantially higher grades"). Do you know of any empirical 
>evidence to support this idea, or are your data based upon what you 
>hear "informally" from teachers?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Bill
>
>Bill Watson
>Research Assistant, SCALE-uP
>The George Washington University
>Graduate School of Education and Human Development
>Department of Teacher Preparation and Special Education
>2134 G St. NW
>Washington, DC  20052
>Phone: (202) 994-1171
>Fax: (202) 994-0692
>[log in to unmask]
>www.gwu.edu/~scale-up
>
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Informal Science Education Network 
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Alexis Abramo
>Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2005 1:25 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: school program numbers
>
>
>ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology 
>Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and 
>related institutions.
>***********************************************************************
>*****
>*
>
>I have been doing some informal polling among teachers I know and have 
>found that in addition to the high cost of transportation, many schools

>are also experiencing a reduction in the overall budget, and therefore 
>have less money to spend on "extras."
>
>Additionally, I believe there are two reasons to blame the No Child 
>Left Behind legislation.
>
>First, because of NCLB's focus on testing, many teachers are dropping 
>the fun, hands-on stuff to focus more time on test materials and 
>test-taking skills.
>
>Second, and maybe more importantly: the focus on testing and meeting a 
>minimum academic level means that schools must spend more of their 
>budgets getting every kid up to speed.  I wholeheartedly agree that we 
>need to make sure all students reach a minimum level but there is an 
>unintended result.  Creating academic requirements without providing 
>financial resources to help reach them means that schools are 
>transferring their limited resources away from enriching activities for

>all students and focusing them on students who need to catch up.
>(Witness: the drop off in arts programs, field trips, etc.)
>
>Another good reason why even informal educators should get involved 
>with educational policy!
>
>
>Alexis Abramo
>Education Program Coordinator
>Sciencenter
>601 First St.
>Ithaca, NY 14850
>[log in to unmask]
>607-272-0600 ext. 20
>
>[log in to unmask]
>
>***********************************************************************
>More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the 
>Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at 
>http://www.astc.org. To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L

>list, send the message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to

>[log in to unmask]


-- 
Beryl Rosenthal, Ph.D.
Director of Exhibitions and Public Programs
MIT Museum
265 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA  02139
Tel: 617-452-2111
Fax: 617-253-8994
[log in to unmask]
"A great place to explore ideas, invention, and innovation: 
http://web.mit.edu/museum"

***********************************************************************
More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at
http://www.astc.org. To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L
list, send the message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
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More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://www.astc.org.
To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
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