ESTELE: Developing The Next Generation Of NGSS Elementary Science Teacher Leaders

Project Summary/Abstract This proposal, Developing the Next Generation of NGSS Elementary Science Teacher Leaders (ESTELE) will design, implement, and evaluate a novel, practicum-based approach for training grade 3-5 elementary Science Teacher Leaders (STLs). It seeks to address important issues affecting the quality and coherence of Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)-aligned instruction at the elementary grades. Currently, elementary teachers devote comparatively little time to science instruction, and lack of access to high-quality NGSS professional development and support in their schools. Research shows science learning must be coherent across the elementary, middle and high school levels in order to equip students for the foundational skills needed to pursue careers in STEM and healthcare fields. This it is imperative that we accelerate the rate at which NGSS training occurs, with effective, school-level supports to build cultures of NGSS practice. ESTELE is responsive to recent calls to train science teacher leaders (STLs) as a mechanism to accelerate training and will provide in-depth training on NGSS pedagogy while developing teachers’ skills in leadership, collaboration, peer coaching, and NGSS evaluation. Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Science Club Summer Camp (SC2) uses an integrated approach to train CPS teachers and youth in the nature of science. An interdisciplinary team of scientists, master science teachers, NGSS experts, and youth development staff will collaborate to incorporate the NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs), Crosscutting Concepts, and science and engineering practices into both out-of-school time learning at a summer camp and academic year instruction. Program participants will also learn about NGSS connections to health and biomedicine through interactions with practicing scientists, visits to research labs, and inquiry into health phenomena. The proposed program draws on best practices for teacher leader professional development and youth mentoring to provide both summer and academic year support for CPS third grade teachers and youth. Specifically, we aim to: 1) Design and implement an intensive elementary teacher professional development program, incorporating both summer and academic year support, 2) establish a summer science camp program, called SC2 Kids, at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago, and 3) evaluate and disseminate best practices for implementation of NGSS in third grade classrooms Over the course of the program, we will train a total of 96 CPS grade 3-5 teachers. Thirty-two of these will be STLs equipped with the NGSS, leadership, collaborative, and assessment skills required to lead and support novice NGSS teachers in their home schools. Further, the STLs will support training for 64 new-to-NGSS teachers (iNGSS), summer learning for more than 300 underserved youth at Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago, and high quality academic year NGSS instruction for up to XXX, XXXX youth in life sciences curricula. A multi-faceted evaluation plan will assess the impact of our program on teacher-leader beliefs, knowledge, and the degree to which STL training results in effective NGSs support/training by STLs with their K-5 colleagues at the school level. Additionally, STLs will be trained in best practices for developing NGSS-aligned assessment tools as measures of student learning. In addition to addressing the acute need for elementary-level NGSS training, it is our expectation that this synergistic model of paired STL and iNGSS training will serve as an efficient, scal