D.E.S.E.R.T. Survival...
D.E.S.E.R.T. Survival... |
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Reflections from the end:Reflections On Survival to Date....A Structure for Building Shared Vision & TrustTo allow the limited number of D.E.S.E.R.T. CT's to work intensively with 100 schools on site based professional development, schools self-selected into four Cohorts with 20-26 sites each. This staggered design also permitted each site to determine an optimal period during the five year span of D.E.S.E.R.T., when they would be best able to focus on a school-wide effort implement the supportive structures and best practices needed to improve science instruction. At the start of Cohort status, each site conducted a needs assessment (using a Practice Profile developed in collaboration with our WestEd evaluators and based on Horizon's criteria for best practices) to define their status relative to five critical supports for classroom implementation identified by D.E.S.E.R.T Project:
During the school year following the Leadership Institute, release time was provided for all teachers at each site to meet in grade level or small groups, six /seven times throughout the year, to engage in focused conversations and reflection about science instruction at the site. These sessions, facilitated by the CT assigned to each site, explored the components of effective instruction. They included topics such as classroom management, use of storylines to focus concept development, formative assessment strategies, effective use of science notebooks, protocols for looking at student work, and sessions for collaborative lesson study. They were intended to model the expectation for continued science conversations about grade level and school wide implementation of the science curriculum that could be facilitated by site leaders in subsequent years. In the Cohort's second summer, the principal, science facilitator and site team attended a Next Steps Institute (30 hours) which focused on the implementation of science notebooks and use of formative assessment to guide the next steps to ensure students' conceptual understanding and science literacy. The Next Steps Institute included time to document the site's journey and to refine and refocus the site action plan. Each Cohort school planned a 4-8 hour pre-service day for their site, to update their plan with all teachers. In year two and beyond, the Cohort sites received D.E.S.E.R.T. funds and limited CT support to continue site based professional development, particularly for teachers who had not yet met the100 hour, NSF professional development requirement. This allocation enabled the site to customize professional development to meet needs they identified to support the district vision for effective science instruction. Each year, the district-wide professional development strand provided 9 to 15-hour Foundation courses for each kit module, in both release-time and summer formats. These courses support the goal of district-wide implementation and develop teacher's content knowledge and pedagogical skills with respect to inquiry and assessment to emphasize student's conceptual understanding. Over two thirds of the district teachers have participated in at least one of these Foundation classes during the Project (others had participated prior to 1998). Scientist partners from the University of Arizona helped facilitate these sessions to increase the participant's understanding of the nature of science, scientific habits of mind, and to clarify the science content in the modules. The Leadership Strand was developed for the various "change guides" identified by the Project. These leaders include:
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