Annual Report OverviewsAnnual Report Overview
To this end we began work in the summer of 1995 with Cadre A, consisting of a teacher in grades K-3 and an upper elementary grade teacher from each school. The three-week summer institutes, separate for primary and intermediate teachers, organized instruction around broad concepts, identified from Benchmarks and the National Science Education Standards, with teachers exploring the concepts in-depth through lessons from exemplary modules such as those produced by STC, Insights, and FOSS. During the 1995-96 academic year, teachers met once a month for classes, practiced teaching inquiry-centered science in their classrooms, were visited twice by project staff, planned and presented a "make-it, take-it" session at the annual conference of the Hoosier Association of Science Teachers, and documented progress in a portfolio. In the second three-week summer institute, in 1996, Cadre A teachers explored additional science concepts and began to focus on leadership skills with the preparation of hands-on workshops which they presented at the state science convention the following winter and to their school staff. The academic year of 1996-97 followed a pattern similar to the first year, but leadership responsibilities grew with the identification and mentoring by each Cadre A teacher of a Science Associate, another teacher from the school who also attended academic year classes. In the summer of 1997, the two-week institute included more work on concepts, but also preparation for teachers to participate during 1997-98 in leadership activities such as those associated with the every sixth-year, state-mandated textbook selection process, and participation on a leadership team within each school which is charged with putting a school plan for science improvement into place. An advanced leadership institute of one week in the summer of 1998 will prepare about half of the Cadre A teachers for additional leadership tasks. In the summer of 1997, a second cycle of teacher enhancement began. Cadre B experiences will be patterned after those of Cadre A, with the new set of teachers receiving three years of in-depth instruction, working with additional Science Associates, exercising leadership within the schools, and providing a critical mass for sustaining improvements within the schools.
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