Improving science achievement at high-poverty urban middle schools†‡

A large percentage of U.S. students attending high-poverty urban middle schools achieve low levels of science proficiency, posing significant challenges to their success in high school science and to national and local efforts to reform science education. Through its work in Philadelphia schools, the Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University developed a teacher-support model to address variation in science curricula, lack of materials, and underprepared teachers that combined with initial low levels of proficiency block improvements in science achievement. The model includes a common science curriculum based on NSF-supported materials commercially available, ongoing teacher professional development built around day-to-day lessons, and regular in-class support of teachers by expert peer coaches. One cohort of students at three Philadelphia middle schools using the model was followed from the end of fourth grade through seventh grade. Their gains in science achievement and achievement levels were substantially greater than students at 3 matched control schools and the 23 district middle schools serving a similar student population. Under school-by-school comparisons, these results held for the two schools with adequate implementation. Using widely available materials and techniques, the model can be adopted and modified by school partners and districts. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed90:1005–1027, 2006

[1]  James P. Spillane,et al.  Urban school leadership for elementary science instruction: Identifying and activating resources in an undervalued school subject , 2001 .

[2]  Elizabeth L. Useem,et al.  Reforming Alone: Barriers to Organizational Learning in Urban School Change Initiatives , 1997 .

[3]  R. Balfanz,et al.  Essential Components and Next Steps for Comprehensive Whole‐School Reform in High Poverty Middle Schools , 2005 .

[4]  Susanna Loeb,et al.  Teacher Sorting and the Plight of Urban Schools: A Descriptive Analysis , 2002 .

[5]  Jacob Cohen.  Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences , 1969, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Research Design.

[6]  Research for Action1 , 1978 .

[7]  Joellen P. Killion.  What Works in the Middle: Results-Based Staff Development. , 1999 .

[8]  Kenneth Tobin,et al.  Learning To Teach Science in Urban Schools. , 2001 .

[9]  Richard M. Ingersoll,et al.  Teacher Turnover and Teacher Shortages: An Organizational Analysis , 2001 .

[10]  Tara O’Neill,et al.  Uncovering Student Ownership in Science Learning: The Making of a Student Created Mini‐Documentary , 2005 .

[11]  M. Mclaughlin,et al.  Federal Programs Supporting Educational Change , 1975 .

[12]  James Hiebert,et al.  A Knowledge Base for the Teaching Profession: What Would It Look Like and How Can We Get One? , 2002 .

[13]  Robert D. Felner,et al.  Preparing adolescents for the twenty-first century: The impact of school reform for the middle grades: A longitudinal study of a network engaged in Turning Points –based comprehensive school transformation , 1997 .

[14]  Susanna W. Purnell,et al.  Lessons From New American Schools' Scale-Up Phase , 1998 .

[15]  Okhee Lee,et al.  Improving science inquiry with elementary students of diverse backgrounds , 2005 .

[16]  Ida,et al.  Teacher Learning: New Policies, New Practices , 1996 .

[17]  Joseph Krajcik,et al.  Enacting Reform-Based Science Materials: The Range of Teacher Enactments in Reform Classrooms , 2005 .

[18]  Okhee Lee,et al.  Equity for Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students in Science Education: A Research Agenda. , 2003 .

[19]  P. Grossman.  The Making of a Teacher: Teacher Knowledge and Teacher Education , 1990 .

[20]  D. Cohen,et al.  Learning Policy: When State Education Reform Works , 2001 .

[21]  Laura M. Desimone,et al.  Effects of Professional Development on Teachers’ Instruction: Results from a Three-year Longitudinal Study , 2002 .

[22]  Cory A. Buxton,et al.  Boundary Spanners as Bridges of Student and School Discourses in an Urban Science and Mathematics High School. , 2005 .

[23]  Richard M. Ingersoll,et al.  The Problem of Underqualified Teachers in American Secondary Schools , 1999 .

[24]  Jane A. Stallings,et al.  Follow Through Classroom Observation Evaluation 1972-1973. SRI Project URU-7370. , 1974 .

[25]  Elizabeth L. Useem,et al.  Once & For All: Placing a Highly Qualified Teacher in Every Philadelphia Classroom. What We Know and Need to Do. A Report from "Learning from Philadelphia's School Reform". , 2003 .

[26]  M. Mclaughlin,et al.  Federal Programs Supporting Educational Change, Vol. VIII: Implementing and Sustaining Innovations. , 1978 .

[27]  J. Christman.  Powerful Ideas, Modest Gains: Five Years of Systemic Reform in Philadelphia Middle Schools , 2001 .

[28]  Thomas J. Kane.  The Impact of After-School Programs: Interpreting the Results of Four Recent Evaluations , 2004 .

[29]  Ann Rosebery,et al.  Rethinking diversity in learning science: The logic of everyday sense‐making , 2001 .

[30]  Steven J. Chrostowski,et al.  TIMSS 2003 International Mathematics Report: Findings from IEA's Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study at the Fourth and Eighth Grades. , 2004 .

[31]  Eugene C. Schaffer.  Impediments to Reform: An Analysis of Destabilizing Issues in Ten Promising Programs. , 1997 .

[32]  N. Augustine.  Rising Above The Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future , 2006 .

[33]  A. Bryk,et al.  Setting the Pace: Opportunities To Learn in Chicago's Elementary Schools. Improving Chicago's Schools. , 1998 .

[34]  L. Lippman.  Urban Schools: The Challenge Of Location And Poverty , 2004 .

[35]  Michael O. Martin,et al.  TIMSS 2003 Technical Report: Findings from IEA's Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study at the Fourth and Eighth Grades. , 2004 .

[36]  L. Darling-Hammond.  Solving the Dilemmas of Teacher Supply, Demand, and Standards: How We Can Ensure a Competent, Caring, and Qualified Teacher for Every Child. , 2000 .

[37]  L. Darling-Hammond.  Teaching and knowledge: Policy issues posed by alternate certification for teachers , 1990 .

[38]  E. Soloway,et al.  Creating Usable Innovations in Systemic Reform: Scaling Up Technology-Embedded Project-Based Science in Urban Schools , 2000 .

[39]  Andrew C. Porter,et al.  Does Professional Development Change Teaching Practice? Results from a Three-Year Study. , 2000 .

[40]  J. Betts,et al.  Equal Resources, Equal Outcomes? The Distribution of School Resources and Student Achievement in California , 2000 .

[41]  Becky A. Smerdon,et al.  Teacher quality : a report on the preparation and qualifications of public school teachers , 1999 .

[42]  G. Wenner.  Comparing Poor, Minority Elementary Students' Interest And Background In Science With That Of Their White, Affluent Peers , 2003 .

[43]  Alan Ruby.  Internal Teacher Turnover in Urban Middle School Reform , 2002 .

[44]  Richard M. Ingersoll,et al.  Out-of-Field Teaching and Educational Equality , 1996 .

[45]  Ina V. S. Mullis,et al.  Findings from IEA's Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study at the Fourth and Eighth Grades. TIMSS 2003 International Science Report. , 2004 .