A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Fairview Middle School implemented a Scope, Sequence and Coordination (SS&C) curriculum, called State Project for Reform in Science Education (SPRSE), over a period of three years beginning in the fall of 1991, first with the sixth grade curriculum and adding one grade level each succeeding year. The implementation was a joint effort between seven schools and two near-by universities with National Science Foundation funding for staff development and technical support. The implementation process included inservice education on new approaches to teaching science, writing a new curriculum, pilot testing the material, rewriting, and evaluating the reform. Site-based management within the district provided Fairview with the opportunity to pursue this science reform independent of other schools in its district. The costs for implementing the SS&C program were borne primarily by the local university with Fairview paying for release time, substitute teachers, and lodging for participants to attend meetings and training sessions.

Fairview Middle School is located in a little town at the edge of a mid-sized city, with students from a low income area of the city, a middle income suburb, and the original rural community surrounding the little town. Federally mandated integration has created a 50% minority student population within the school.

Fairview Middle School is organized into interdisciplinary, grade level teacher teams. The seventh grade science teachers, due to their physical proximity in the building work together, but in general the science teachers more closely identify with their interdisciplinary team members. Major differences identified with teaching the reform center around not having a textbook, student and teacher questioning strategies, and student group work and its social interaction. Increased longevity within the project correlates with enthusiasm for it. Experienced project teachers recognize that teaching the project, discussing difficulties with colleagues locally and state-wide, and reteaching it a second year were critical to developing a commitment to the project. Teachers new to the reform project are uncomfortable with many of the changes.

Fairview teachers see the benefits of the reform to be 1) improved student interest and enjoyment of science, 2) improved student self-esteem and social skills, 3) increased student understanding of material, 4) improved relations, teacher to student and teacher to teacher, 5) success for all students in science, and 6) increased teacher learning. Their major concern beyond the usually difficulties of reform is the amount of time involved in the preparation and planning for teaching in the reformed curriculum.

Viewing the reform from the perspective of six key areas--goals, content, teacher role, student role, student work and assessment--the reform meets only some of the demands of reform efforts. The goals of "less is more" and thematic, real-life science are met in the science content which stresses a depth of understanding of science concepts and the connections existing among science disciplines and between science and life experiences outside the classroom. While the reform involves more group activities for students, both the student and teacher roles remain virtually unchanged. Some teachers do assume a role of coach during cooperative learning activities, but for students it is primarily a format change and not a change in their role or response.

Student work is more creative and diverse, encouraging student-designed experiments, student-generated science games, journal writing, poster designing and mapping. By teacher admission, student assessment lags behind other parts of the reform and is compounded by a district-wide traditional percentage grading system. New tests more compatible with the reform will not be available for at least two years.

Critical to this reform is teacher inservice education, which is aimed at demonstrating the operation of the reform at the classroom level and impacting teacher beliefs about practice. The inservice education includes a two-week summer institute and follow-up procedures. Without continued inservice education, and continued university support, the reform may be difficult to sustain. Additional outside funding is being sought to sustain and expand the program.

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[Case Study of Fort Sheridan Middle School Science Program]

[Coordinated Science at Westview High School]