Carla C. Johnson

Elementary Teachers’ Beliefs About Teaching Science and Classroom Practice: An Examination of Pre/Post NCLB Testing in Science

The impact of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandated state science assessment on elementary teachers’ beliefs about teaching science and their classroom practice is relatively unknown. For many years, the teaching of science has been minimized in elementary schools in favor of more emphasis on reading and mathematics. This study examines the dynamics of bringing science to the forefront of assessment in elementary schools and the resulting teacher belief and instructional shifts that take place in response to NCLB. Results indicated that teachers’ beliefs about teaching science remained unchanged despite policy changes mandated in NCLB. Teacher beliefs related to their perceptions of what their administrators and peer groups’ think they should be doing influenced their practice the most. Most teachers reported positive feelings and attitudes about science and reported that their students had positive feelings and attitudes about science; however, teachers reported teaching science less as a result of NCLB. Implications for elementary science education reform and policy are discussed.

Urban School Reform Enabled by Transformative Professional Development: Impact on Teacher Change and Student Learning of Science

This longitudinal study of middle school science teachers explored if a teacher participation in the TPD program resulted in change in instructional practice as well as a significant increase in student learning. Four participating schools were matched and randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. Teacher and student outcomes were compared. Eight teachers from Bryce and Zion Middle Schools participated in the 2-week summer institute, followed by monthly release day professional development sessions focused on implementing instruction outlined in the National Science Education Standards. Student achievement was assessed using the pre- or postinstruments. Students of teachers at treatment schools experienced significantly larger gains than students at the control schools.TPD intervention teachers experienced increase in teaching effectiveness. Findings in this study revealed the positive impact that whole-school, sustained, collaborative, professional development programs have on improving teacher practice and student achievement at the school level.

Whole-School Collaborative Sustained Professional Development and Science Teacher Change: Signs of Progress

The experiences of middle school science teachers at two schools in the southeastern US who participated in collaborative, sustained, whole-school professional development and their implementation of standards-based instructional practices are the focus of this study. Participants were involved in their second year of the professional development experience. The research question that was explored was “How are science teachers implementing standards-based instruction while participating in effective professional development experiences?” Data collected in the form of teacher interviews and classroom observations using an observation protocol. Findings indicate that even with effective professional development, teachers implement standards-based instructional practices at varying levels. The reasons for these differences are discussed and the role of teacher beliefs and the impact of beliefs, experience and support from administrators on professional development efforts are discussed. Implications for future science education reform stakeholders and professional development efforts are revealed.

An Examination of Effective Practice: Moving Toward Elimination of Achievement Gaps in Science

This longitudinal study of middle school science teachers explored the relationship between effective science instruction, as defined by the National Science Education Standards (NRC in National science education standards. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1996), and student achievement in science. Eleven teachers participated in a three year study of teacher effectiveness, determined by the LSC Classroom Observation Protocol (Horizon Research, Inc. in Local Systemic Change Classroom Observation Protocol. May 1, 2002) and student achievement, which was assessed using the Discovery Inquiry Test in Science. Findings in this study revealed the positive impact that effective science teachers have on student learning, eliminating achievement gaps between White and Non-White students. Case studies of three teachers, both effective and ineffective explore the beliefs and experiences that influence teachers to change, or not to change practice. This study provides justification for teaching science effectively to narrow achievement gaps in science and provides insight to stakeholders in science education as to how to support teachers in becoming more effective, through addressing existing teacher beliefs and providing experiences that challenge those beliefs.

Transformative Professional Development: A Model for Urban Science Education Reform

This study presents a model of Transformative Professional Development (TPD) for use in sustained, collaborative, professional development of teachers in urban middle school science. TPD focuses on urban science teacher change and is responsive to school climate, teacher needs, and teacher beliefs with the intention of promoting change in practice. In this study, TPD was used to meet the needs of individual teachers and the collective needs of schools in reform efforts. The experiences of the eight teachers engaged in this process of professional growth, including their changes in practices and beliefs, provide the focus of this paper. Findings in this study revealed that through the use of TPD, participants in this study improved science teaching effectiveness and began to transform their negative school climate and create positive classroom learning environments.

Making Instruction Relevant to Language Minority Students at the Middle Level

The population of the United States continues to become increasingly diverse, both culturally and linguistically (National Center for Education Statistics, 1999). For the past two decades, the majority of immigrants have been from Mexico and are native Spanish speakers (Garcia, 2002). The increased diversity creates a challenge for middle school teachers as they are required not only to teach their content areas, but also to assist students learning English, including literacy skills. The majority of teachers at all levels of experience are novices at teaching a second language in the context of subject matter (Stoddart, Pinal, Latzke, & Canaday, 2002). Many school districts have responded to the growth of the English Language Learner (ELL) population by adding pull-out English as a Second Language classes meeting separate from their content area classes only once or twice per week. These pull-out classes are only a temporary solution to a growing problem and do not enable students to learn language in the context of their content areas. At the middle level, teachers daily face many chal lenges in delivering instruction and enabling student learning. Young adolescents are undergoing a trans formation from elementary school where they had one teacher to middle school where they may have five or six classes with different teachers each day. Organization is also key, and many students are still learning skills needed to become independent. However, for a student who is placed in this environ ment without an extensive knowledge of the English language and the ability to communicate with peers and teachers, it is a much more difficult time.

Educational Turbulence: The Influence of Macro and Micro-Policy on Science Education Reform

Enactment of federal educational policy has direct implications for states and local school districts across the nation, particularly in the areas of accountability and funding. This study utilized constructivist grounded theory to examine the impact of policy on science education reform in a large, urban school district over a 5-year period. The existence and interaction between macro and micro, and explicit and implicit policies created educational turbulence. Findings further extend upon Fullan’s (Change theory: a force for school improvement, 2006) change theory adding high-stakes accountability as a prevalent distractor issue and the need for quad-level, rather than tri-level engagement in reform. Suggestions for addressing educational turbulence are provided.

Technical, political and cultural barriers to science education reform

Administrative support is essential for reform efforts to take place at the building and district level. This study explored barriers teachers encountered while implementing science education reform and the impact those barriers had on change in instructional practices and reform. Findings in this study reveal that support from administration is not ideal, nor is it sufficient to support teacher efforts. Effective science instruction, defined by the National Science Education Standards, has been demonstrated to have a positive impact on student achievement. Administrators must support teachers engaging in reform efforts to enable teachers to overcome barriers and implement effective practice.

Effective Science Instruction: Impact on High-Stakes Assessment Performance.

Abstract This longitudinal prospective cohort study was conducted to determine the impact of effective science instruction on performance on high-stakes high school graduation assessments in science. This study provides powerful findings to support authentic science teaching to enhance long-term retention of learning and performance on state-mandated assessments. Students experienced some combination of zero to three effective teachers throughout their middle school experience. Findings revealed that all students who experienced effective science teachers who engaged students in inquiry-based science outperformed students who had less effective teachers. Additionally, those who had more effective teachers over time performed increasingly better. Implications for stakeholders will be discussed.

Making the Case for School-based Systemic Reform in Science Education

Over the last decade, stakeholders in science education have been grappling with the challenge of bringing inservice teachers up to speed with changes called for in the National Science Education Standards (NSES), including the use of inquiry as the ‘‘central strategy for teaching science’’ (National Research Council 1996). Individual teacher professional development programs served as a good way for teachers who chose to attend to learn how to use inquiry and create a more studentcentered learning environment (Czerniak et al. 2005; Kahle et al. 2000; Keys and Bryan 2000; Wright and Wright 2000). However, these experiences often did not result in school-level change due to the short duration of most programs, and the fact that only a few teachers (if any) per school participated (Shymansky et al. 2004). No Child Left Behind (NCLB) shortly followed NSES and worked to stifle the teaching of science in order to provide further instructional time for reading and mathematics. The message to teachers was clear—science was no longer a high instructional priority. For the seven-year period that followed, professional development programs at the district and school level focused on areas other than science and the majority of opportunities for teachers were outside of their local districts, though funding for those opportunities was often directed toward reading and mathematics. In 2007, NCLB-mandated assessment of science was implemented and focus was shifted back to science. Instructional time for science was inserted back into the schedule for teachers—many of whom had not been provided the opportunity to learn about and understand NSES-based science teaching. The result was that many teachers and schools were ‘‘left behind’’ in regards to understanding effective science instruction. Many students in classrooms across the U.S. today are not being given the opportunity to learn and do science, as Banilower et al. (2006) found only 14% of classrooms were high-quality in their national study. There is evidence in