High School Accountability:Aligning the Mismatch

SCAS2 High School Breakout Session

October 3, 2006

What is the Mismatch?

- 4 years of standards

- 2 years required to graduate

- 3 years recommended by UC/CSU system

- Penalty for not taking 3 science exams

- Life science test in 10th grade

- Increasing percentage of middle and high school API

StrategiesWhat does your department offer to help prepare students to: become scientifically literate citizens, satisfy graduation requirements, prepare for the 10th grade life science test, satisfy UC/CSU entrance requirements, and acquire 21st century skills?

Please take 5 minutes to discuss with partners and choose a couple out-of-the-box strategies to report out.

Cutting-Edge Strategies

States and Science Graduation Requirements

www.ecs.org

California

The number of local control and 4-unit states are unchanged. 2-years is decreasing. 3-units is increasing. California requires 2 units (years).

States and Science Graduation Requirements2 years 3 years 4 years

*Data collected and prepared by Michael Horton on 9/21/06 from state websites. Data is presumed accurate, but requirements are always being updated.

Changes to 200 Penalty

• No more penalty in 10th grade

• 10th grade life science test is taken by all whether enrolled in science or not

• For any 9th or 11th grader penalized, the weight of the test is greatly reduced

“Using this loophole to rearrange science curriculum is dangerous and is just as likely to reduce API as it is to increase API.” - Key Data Systems

Changes to 200 Penalty

College Preparatory students will continue to take 3 years of science Non-CP students will only take 2 years of science Non-CP classes contain far more underrepresented students than CP classes

The achievement gap will increase as a result

The number of physics and geology majors will be reduced by only 2 years of high school science which will exacerbate the difficulty in finding physics and earth science teachers

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Featured Non-Traditional Sequences

Integrated First Physics First Earth Science First

Integrated in 9th Grade

Tood Ullah, Director of ScienceLos Angeles Unified School District

High school science sequence of courses (ICS 1-4) Four sections: Earth Science, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology

ICS 1 targets 9th grade students Emphasis is conceptual rather than mathematical, emphasizing widely applicable

inquiry-based pedagogy to develop widely applicable critical thinking skills Designed to increase student interest in science for all students Bridge that prepares students for biology, chemistry and physics

Standards are selected from earth science, physics, chemistry, and biology standards

Part of the California Standards Testing Program Satisfies G requirement for CSU/UC eligibility “Only” requires a secondary science credential

Taught in LAUSD for over a decade

What is Integrated Coordinated Science?

Integrated Coordinated Science for the 21st Century, 2004, www.its-about-time.com Research-based instructional program Fully-aligned to National Science Education Standards Four week independent units Pedagogy designed to highlight

Science learning as an active process Student-directed scientific inquiry (Activity before Concept, Concept before

Vocabulary) Connections to prior knowledge Knowledge transfer Assessment of student understanding and misconceptions

Congruent with language acquisition pedagogy

The Integrated and Coordinated Science Textbook Adoption

Level III - Science Lead Teacher Training100 Teachers for 2 days per module

Conducted by Level I and II - ICS Leadership Team and Science Educators

Earth ScienceExpert

EarthComm-Content

- Facilitation

Chemistry Expert

Physics Expert

Active Physics-Content

- Facilitation

Active Chemistry-Content

- Facilitation

Active Biology-Content

- Facilitation

University Partners

Level III – Core Institutes100 returning teachers (cohort 1-6)

15-20 hrs (3 after school hours & 1 Saturday)

Co-developed and co-facilitated by University Partners and ICS1 Leadership Team

Active Chemistry-Content-pedagogical content knowledge

Active Biology-Content-pedagogical content knowledge

BiologyExpert

EarthComm-Content-pedagogical content knowledge

Active Physics-Content-pedagogical content knowledge

Participation in the ICS 1 Program:Science Course Taking Among 9th Graders Changed in

Recent Years

Distribution of Science Courses for 9th Graders, 2001 to 2005

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Other

N=40,491 N=51,076 N=54,516 N=52,393

(Class of 2007)(Class of 2006)(Class of 2005)(Class of 2004) (Class of 2008)

N=46,319

Source: 2005 California Student Testing and Reporting Data Files, CDE.

Participation in the ICS 1 Program: What were the Main Science Course Pathways?

(follow students with at least two years of science from 2000/01 to 2003/04)

Five Most Popular Pathways (Class of 2004)

First Course Second Course Percent

Biology Chemistry 31%

Biology Adv. Physical Science 17%

ICS 1 ICS 2 14%

ICS 1 Biology 12%

Other “G” Course Biology 9%

Chart 8A LAUSD California Standards Test, Science

Percent Scoring Proficient or Advanced

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Chart 8B California

California Standards Test, Science Percent Scoring Proficient or Advanced

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Student Performance: California STAR Testing Program, California Standards Test:

LAUSD vs California ICS 1, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Earth Science

CST Science Results: Expected vs. Actual

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Expected Actual

Student Performance: Do 9th Graders Taking ICS 1 in 9th Grade Perform better than Expected on Subsequent

Science CSTs?

Notes: Expected scale scores based on OLS regression model where the science scale score is dependent on 9th grade ELA and Math CST scale scores. Analysis restricted to students who entered 9th grade in 2003 and took the Biology CST as a 10th grader in 2004 and the Chemistry CST as an 11th grader in 2005 (N=8,055).a Statistically different from “no science” in 9th grade; Effect sizes of 0.15 and 0.24, respectively.b Statistically different from “other science” in 9th grade; Effect sizes of 0.08 and 0.13, respectively.

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Preliminary Results

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NCLB 10th Grade Science Test, 2006 Results, Expected vs. Actual

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Student Performance: What influence does the 9th Grade Science Course have on Scores on the NCLB 10th Grade

Science Test?

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Preliminary Results

Notes: Expected scale scores based on OLS regression model where the ICS 1 scale score is dependent on 9th grade ELA and Math CST scale scores. Analysis restricted to students who were 9th graders in 2004-05 and 10th graders in 2005-06 (N=34, 599).

*ICS 1 value-added is significantly greater than Biology and No Science groups.

Physics in 9th Grade

About 10 years ago, a reform movement began to switch physics to 9th grade.

There was no data supporting this idea, only anecdote.

Many schools and districts switched and did not collect any data to judge its effectiveness.

To this date, no formal study has been done to measure its effectiveness.

In 2001, Leon Lederman estimated that over 100 schools (60% private) had switched to physics first nationally.

As of today, no data has been published showing its effect.

A website now lists 299 schools teaching physics first, certainly not a complete listing.

Physics in 9th GradeI have collected data from California schools showing:

1) Physics first destroys physics test scores2) Physics first hurts chemistry test scores3) Physics first does not affect biology test scores4) Physics first does not increase enrollment in higher physics classes

Analyzing the standards has also showed:

1) Physics standards are highest on Bloom’s Taxonomy2) Very little chemistry and physics are needed to be proficient in the CA biology

standards3) All of the chemistry and physics needed is in the middle school standards4) Calculators are not even allowed on the physics test, this is not a mathematics issue

Still, over 13,000 9th graders took the physics CST last year.

Earth Science in 9th Grade

Sonia Regenfuss, Science Department Chair

Beckman High School,

Tustin Unified School District

Earth Science First

My position on Earth Science first: Our district went to Earth Science for freshman as a means to cover all the standards and develop well rounded students.  A typical student would take Earth Science as a freshman, a life science as a Sophomore, chemistry as a junior, and then physics as a senior. Our upper end students take Biology Honors as freshmen, then chemistry honors, followed by Physics AP or Biology AP or Chemistry AP or Environmental AP their Junior/Senior year. Earth Science seems to be a milder transition for many students who face EL or RSP issues. The students can be successful and develop their skills at the high school level. Earth science has some anchors like earthquakes or hurricanes that students can relate to, where as, biology can be very abstract when you talk about processes you can not see.  We face much of the same problems that many high schools do with jumping from middle school to high school being such a large change. As teachers, we know the students learned specific standards at the middle school but middle school is an odd age for many students. Once in high school the demands of the activities, sports and academics are a balancing act. We have many honors students step back one year to then go on the take honors biology their sophomore year.  Also in developing better citizens that will vote on issues in the future, Earth Science standards cover water issues, global warming, energy, California resources, and also hazards such as hurricane Katrina. These are all topics that are in the news that students should understand.

ES First DataCST Earth Science Tustin School District, district API = 790, 36% SED, 31% ELL

9th 10th 11th Students tested 1088 23 27% of enrollment 66.7% 1.5% 2.2%% advanced 10 4.0 11% proficient 24 22 11% basic 41 39 52% below basic 17 22 22% far below basic 7 13 4

CST Algebra I Tustin School District for comparison9th

Students tested 1160% advanced 7% proficient 30% basic 28% below basic 24% far below basic 10

Can Data Guide Us?

Michael Horton, Science Coordinator

Orange County Department of Education

Science Program’s Effect on NCLB Test

A higher percentage of 9th graders in biology shows a slight upward trend in 10th grade CST life science test scores.

% of 9th graders in bio vs. 10th grade CST score

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Science Program’s Effect on NCLB Test

A higher percentage of 10th graders in biology shows a slight upward trend in 10th grade CST life science test scores.

% of10th graders in bio vs. 10th grade CST score

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Science Program’s Effect on NCLB Test

% of 11th graders in bio vs 10th grade CST score

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Integrated first

Physics first

A higher percentage of 11th graders in biology shows a downward trend in 10th grade CST life science test scores.

Science Program’s Effect on NCLB Test

% of 9th graders in bio vs. 10th grade CST score

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Summary% of10th graders in bio vs. 10th grade CST score

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The data shows little difference between taking biology as a 9th grader or a 10th grader. Those who took biology as an 11th grader scored much lower than these two groups.

Can Bloom’s Taxonomy Help?If the content standards are analyzed as per which level of Bloom’s taxonomy they address, the following pattern is found. Lower level is considered recall. High level is anything above that.

Low-Level High Level % High Level

Biology 54 12 18%

Earth Science 36 10 22%

Chemistry 41 30 42%

Physics 24 24 50%

Contact Information

Dean Gilbert, gilbert_dean@lacoe.edu

Michael Horton, mhorton@rcoe.us

Sonia Regenfuss, sregenfuss@tustin.k12.ca.us

Todd Ullah, todd.ullah@lausd.net