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Science education integrates the study of and practices from the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). At the fundamental level, the pedagogy involves teaching and learning that emphasizes the use of scientific inquiry and the engineering design process to develop students’ problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration skills. Unfortunately, funding and professional development for teachers, which is essential to assure successful implementation of science lessons to increase the potential for student achievement, is lacking. Therefore, this NSF-funded science-education research project explored the development of a model that deepens the existing partnerships among grass-roots, non-profit community education organizations, K-12 public schools, and local university partners. Together, they worked collaboratively to develop systems where teachers could implement high-quality, place-based, NGSS-aligned science learning opportunities that actively engage students. This research project may lead to a future proposal for high-quality professional development for teachers, using the Teacher-to-Teacher professional development model, with the goal of impacting student achievement in science. The goals of this research project were to (1) develop a collaborative model that deepens community, public school, and university partnerships designed to support science educators and their students and (2) explore the current academic and social impact of the Teacher-to-Teacher professional development program as a possible solution for the development and implementation of high-quality, place-based, NGSS-aligned learning experiences for and with students. This presentation will focus on the components used to develop the partnership model with community partners, K-12 teachers and administrators, and university professors. Finally, the Teacher-to-Teacher (T2T) model and its new iteration, the Teacher-Plus-Community Partners T+CP Model will be shared for future development of place-based science learning experiences.
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This content will become publicly available on January 1, 2026
Improving the design of evaluations that include students, teachers, and schools: An empirical investigation of key design parameters. Improving the design of evaluations that include students, teachers, and schools: An empirical investigation of key design parameters
The learning environment is a complex environment for conducting evaluations. Students, teachers, and schools all play a role in shaping the environment, which can lead to differences in student achievement. Hence designing an evaluation with the capacity to detect the effectiveness of an educational intervention on student achievement requires careful planning. A key part of the planning is a statistical power analysis that considers the multilevel nature of the design. This study provides empirical estimates of design parameters necessary for planning adequately powered cluster randomized trials that include the student, teacher, and school level and are focused on reading, mathematics, or science achievement. The sample in our study includes administrative state datasets from Michigan, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Maryland for grades 3 through 8. The results showed that, with few exceptions, the variance in student test scores is larger between teachers within schools than between schools.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2000388
- PAR ID:
- 10623767
- Publisher / Repository:
- Sage
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- AERA open
- Volume:
- 11
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2332-8584
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1–20
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Achievement, design parameters, experimental design, hierarchical linear modeling, intraclass correlation, program evaluation, teacher research
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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