Schools in north cascadea full#

The ideas of all the partners came together under the NCOSP program and a large grant from NSF was obtained to implement this program.

Schools in north cascadea full#

'Despite the commitment to research-based curriculum at the elementary level, implementation support has been minimal professional development to enhance teacher knowledge of the content supporting the curriculum has been absent and access to services and content experts in the rural and isolated districts has been limited.' (From full NCOSP grant proposal.) In addition, there was a large turnover in teachers in the NCOSP districts because of the difficulty in recruiting and retaining teachers that represent the diversity of their students and/or teach many subjects in rural school settings.Īfter a national search to hire a new Head of Science Education, many regional meetings and discussions were held between faculty, teachers, and administrators to evaluate the needs of the local schools and determine the best action plan. School districts were concerned about their science curriculum and teacher preparedness. Starting in 2008, Washington State will require 10th grade students to pass a test in order to graduate from high school. In addition to teaching methods classes to pre-service teachers, these faculty observe and mentor practicing science teachers through a variety of professional developmet activities.īy the late 1990's, the Science Education Group wanted to do something to address science education on a regional level for a number of reasons. Their teaching load is split between their disciplinary science and science education. The Science Education Group at Western Washington University is composed of two faculty from each science department (Biology, Chemistry, Geology, and Physics).