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Wow, a new Forum! I am getting ready to host a web seminar on Thursday, Feb. 17 at 6:30 eastern on how to evaluate your science program. I'm excited about a super-quick assessment that can get you started. Its not really fair, since a high-quality program is a system and all the elements must be attended to! But you have to start somewhere, right? The seminar is intended for supervisors--like principals, department heads, coaches--but anyone can join. If you haven't registered yet, please join us! If you can't make it then, check back here for the archived seminar and to check out what participants have to say.

Hi Jan, I am excited to see this new discussion thread as well. I registered for your webinar on Thursday, and I look forward to your presentation. Carolyn

Thank you, Arlene, for posting the registration so we can access it in one swift click! This looks very interesting, and I look forward to attending. I had the experience and adventure of developing an "Aerospace Engineering" middle school science curriculum a few years ago, and it sure would have been nice to have a few fellow educators out there who were doing something similar!

I'm looking forward to the session tonight! :) Thanks NSTA for providing science educators with this venue.

Elizabeth--the session is tomorrow night! Hope to "see" you then.

Thanks! :) The joys of multitasking. See you tomorrow night! :)

Thanks for the posts regarding the webinar tonight, Jan. It is great to have some information ahead of time.

Web seminar resources are attached! 1. The Super-Quick Assessment. This is intended to get you started. Don't confuse the contents here with a comprehensive, systemic evaluation. Which brings us to... 2. The standards for high-quality K-12 science programs. Their development and intended uses are discussed in the web seminar (which will be archived in this topic when available). A few new ways to access NSTA's guidance on this topic were introduced in the webinar as well. For more information on the standards and expert reviews for schools and districts, go to http://nsta.org/pd/spir .

Attachments

Super-Quick_Program_Evaluation.pdf (0.50 Mb)

Standards_for_high-quality_science_programs.pdf (0.09 Mb)

Thank you for sharing this information on the web seminar. I am looking forward to seeing how I can use it!

Thank you for the evaluation tool.

[color=purple]Jan and Wendy, I thoroughly enjoyed the webinar tonight. After reviewing many of the materials and learning the information presented, I know we are on the right track, but still have much work to do. I look forward to learning more and moving forward.[/color]

I enjoyed the webinar tonight as well. I look forward to trying them out and thinking more deeply about how they might be used to inform the work I do with schools and districts. I am also looking forward to gaining insight and learning from these and future posts of colleagues across the nation. Again, thanks Jan and Windy for your work and session tonight. :)

Thank you so much for the information and I will be getting in touch. I have talked with my curriculum folks and they see the need for this review in the school to try and get the k-6 teachers on board as well as the state. Is it alright for me to pass along the pdf's to my curriculum people so they can see where we really stand?

Jan and Wendy, I found the webinar last night extremely helpful. Now the real work begins...meeting with the other science faculty and determining where we stand and where we need to improve. You mentioned in the webinar that Dr. Eberle would be presenting at the NSTA conference in San Francisco. Could you post the time and title of his presentation? I will be in SF and would like to attend. Thanks.

Jan, I didn't get to your webinar but appreciate that you put up some resources. I trained to be a SPIR reviewer a few years ago, but Texas does its own thing. I appreciate the chance to review what I learned so that I can better plan professional development. Is the webinar archived? Bambi

Ruth - Information is posted on the other thread under the Evaluation and Assessment area :) Enjoy, Liz

Elizabeth wrote, "Ruth - Information is posted on the other thread under the Evaluation and Assessment area :) Enjoy, Liz" Hi Liz, Thank you so much for bringing the new thread to my attention.

Sorry I missed this Webinar! We are currently trying to evaluate the effectiveness of a physics first sequence. I personally find it difficult to be effective when our standards and skills are not aligned, difference in educational philosophy, and unclear goals from our institution on system wide goals.

Hello everybody Thanks Jan for the pdf's on evaluation of a curriculum info. Will be using this as a checklist guide to reflect on our middle school's science curriculum. Keep up the great work Steve

Steve - your photo always makes me smile :-)

This is amazing - Jan - thank you fro posting the pdfs and the webinar archive is also a rich resource with a nice collection attached! Will you be hosting another webinar at some point on the topic/or answering questions through this thread? It seems like there are several of us who will be using your tools over the summer to inform our own practice!

for anyone who missed it scrolling through - here is the webinar archive link again: http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/SPiR/webseminar.aspx

I would love to continue answering questions through this thread! I am definitely going to be hosting another webinar, I just don't know when yet. If you would like me to notify you directly, send me your email to [email protected]. The quick evaluation is the jumping off place for a much larger tool that I am currently working on. Its intended audience is principals and coaches who are tasked with supervising science, but aren't really close to being an expert in science education and don't want to (or have time to) become an expert. My challenge is to see if NSTA could develop guidance that would enable them to know what needs to be done, what to delegate, and what to look for that indicates progress and success in meeting intermediate goals. I realized they needed to know where to start, roughly, and hence the quick eval tool that you all see. As a next step I am writing guides for what to do at each level---1, 2 and 3---in Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment. I am trying to make it as "lean" and to the point as possible, and easy to dip in and out of. All this will live on a website so that it would be available 24/7, and is also being designed so that the principal and designated members of a science team could record data they collect in a common (school) pass-word protected area of the NSTA website and print summary reports. There will be a field test scheduled for this fall, and I am looking for principals or coaches to try it out and give feedback. If you are a "supervisor" that would like to participate, please send me a personal reply. I would also greatly appreciate all feedback on the utility of the evaluation, and some clues as to what uses you are finding for it. By the way, negative feedback is equally valuable--I have a thick skin! Thanks, Jan

Its that time of year, when we all start to ramp up...I have been spending time with my post it notes again - trying to organize a workable scaffold of K-5 science and engineering design topics that will meet our current needs plus be a step ahead - taking into account the new framework. One thing that will be new this year is our science lab. It is a room that each and every class will be scheduled into once per week (and there are some open spots too) and I want this room to be an important part of the science program but not the only place that science is done. What ideas and resources do other people have for evaluating how a lab is being used as part of a comprehensive program?

Carolyn, When you have something outlined with your K-5 efforts, would you be willing to share with me? In my district, we are "encouraged" to do what you are attempting, however we are lacking the needed framework. I have been making suggestions to our elementary teachers, but I teach 6th grade & have my hands full with our new state standards to put as much effort into getting more STEM into the lower grades. It would be a great help to add some of your efforts into mine to make it easier. Sue Garcia

Sue - I'd be happy to share - its very bare bones but anything helps when you are trying to make a plan!