Large‐scale interventions in science education for diverse student groups in varied educational settings

Abstract

Current classroom practices in the U.S. and internationally have largely been shaped by changing student demographics and accountability policies. This special issue includes manuscripts that develop conceptual frameworks or report on empirical studies addressing large-scale interventions of educational innovations for diverse student groups in varied educational settings. Understanding issues related to large-scale interventions will be particularly important for the U.S., as the science education system embraces new science standards [National Research Council, [2011] A framework for K-12 science education: Practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. Washington, DC: National Research Council.]. In our introduction to the special issue, we discuss critical issues in scaling up educational innovations through which large-scale interventions evolve. First, we describe the process of scaling up an educational innovation. Then, we address challenges in scaling up an innovation. Next, we discuss implications that these challenges present to implementation of an innovation and evaluation of its efficacy and effectiveness. Finally, we briefly introduce the articles that appear in this special issue. ß 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 271-280, 2012 Keywords: policy; diversity; equity Internationally, current classroom practices have largely been shaped by changing student demographics and accountability policies. In the U.S., the school-aged population is becoming increasingly more diverse, while achievement gaps across content areas persist and in some areas are increasing. At the same time, more demands are being placed on all students as a result of high-stakes testing and accountability policies. Educational innovations take place against the backdrop of changing student demographics and evolving educational policies.This special issue includes manuscripts that develop conceptual frameworks or report on empirical studies addressing large-scale interventions of educational innovations for diverse student groups in varied educational settings. These manuscripts discuss challenges and failures as well as accomplishments and promises of such efforts. Interventions are defined broadly including, but not limited to, curriculum development, teacher professional

Impact of a Large-Scale Science Intervention Focused on English Language Learners

“…This scale-up context requires implementation of a science program within the participating districts' constraints of science instructional time, professional development in science with student diversity including ELLs, a science curriculum that meets the learning needs of diverse student groups including ELLs, and science supplies and equipment essential for quality science instruction. Thus, the results of the study contribute to the emerging literature on scaleup research (McDonald, Keesler, Kauffman, & Schneider, 2006;Schneider & McDonald, 2007a, 2007b, especially in science education (Lee & Luykx, 2005; see also Lee & Krajcik, 2012).…”

Being professional: accountability and authority in teachers’ responses to science curriculum reform

“…However, fewer studies consider the detail of teacher experiences of, and reflections on, curriculum reform initiatives in a broader range of school contexts 1 . The stage model of educational innovation developed by the Institute of Educational Sciences in the US does emphasise the importance of examining increasingly broad set of school contexts (Lee and Krajcik, 2012) activities. However, this review has highlighted the need for more attention to be given to experiences and reflections working in specific educational contexts over time.…”

“…An initial design stage is -scale randomised controlled trials (Lee and Krajcik, 2012). A key focus a measure of whether what the teacher does in the classroom is consistent with the O D T tends to be on student learning outcomes and fidelity of implementation by teachers (e.g.…”

Bringing CASE in from the Cold: the Teaching and Learning of Thinking

“…Schools experience different and changing priorities, with varying rates of student attendance and teaching staff turnover. Such factors inevitably impact on the effectiveness of an intervention program, and raise questions about scalability and sustainability (see Lee & Krajcik, 2012 for a discussion and overview), not to mention some of the less tractable problems of social equity, resource allocation and access to what we might call 'high quality teaching'. The findings presented here are nevertheless of interest as in optimal conditions, with a stable student population, high rates of school attendance and a science department that embedded the intervention practices into the teaching and learning program, the effects were clear: students show a large gain in their 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 levels of reasoning compared with students in other schools (Author, under review).There may be other influences such as the school environment, families, peers and other resources not considered in this study that support interventions such as this one in schools and impact on individual students.…”