The San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) would like to continue science education reform and move from the elementary to the middle schools (grades 6-9). The five-year project will be implemented in close partnership with the University of California, San Francisco, Berkeley, San Francisco State University, City College, the California Academy of Science, the Stanford Genome Center and the Exploratorium.
The project will involve all 300 grade 6-9 teachers in the system in a phased-in process. All teachers will attend a series of summer institutes, beginning with 40 teachers who will become the District science leadership teachers. They will become leaders both at their school sites and as institute facilitators in subsequent years.
The curriculum will be Prime Science, supplemented with units from other standards-based materials (Event-Based Science, e.g.). A preliminary curriculum implementation plan has been submitted. The implementation plan focuses on a replacement unit strategy that builds over time.
In addition, the project will provide a teacher induction component, developed by the Exploratorium. SFUSD participated in a pilot version of this program last year. This component will work with both novice and non-credentialed science teachers. In addition to summer programs, intensive peer support through a mentor program will be implemented.
