Putting today’s science standards into practice creates a unique set of challenges for leaders. Standards are connected to every other component of a school system — instructional materials, assessments, professional learning, course sequencing and instructional time, leadership structures, budget, internal and community communication, and external partnerships — not to mention student engagement, equity, and success.
NextGenScience helps build the capacity of science leaders to develop sustainable strategies and networks focused on high-impact, research-based strategies. Establishing a leadership team and coherent plan are crucial to a successful transition to this new way of teaching and learning science. To learn more about how we can support you to make meaningful change for students in your community, reach out to nextgenscience@wested.org.
Download the following reports to learn how NextGenScience built science leadership through the Pennsylvania Science Education Leaders Network (PennSEL Network), a program to equip teams of Pennsylvania science leaders to improve science education in their communities.
NextGenScience released two resources sharing findings on the impact of the first year of network programming:
PennSEL Network Interim Growth Report
This report shares the PennSEL Network’s impact on participants based on a pre- and post-survey from the first year of Network programming. It highlights several positive impacts reported by PennSEL Network participants, including:
- Participant vision for science instruction has become more aligned with the research,
- Science education has become a bigger priority both across Pennsylvania and within participant organizations,
- Professional learning and collaboration opportunities have increased, and
- Participants have begun enacting strategies that have been shown to be effective in similar work across the country.
PennSEL Network Stories from the Field
This resource shares four vignettes of PennSEL teams engaging in key strategies for transitioning to new learning goals for students with support from the PennSEL Network, including:
- Creating a shared vision for science teaching and learning in your community,
- Supporting teams to evaluate and select high-quality instructional materials,
- Building school administrator capacity in science teaching and learning, and
- Boosting district leader capacity to design an effective professional learning plan.
Funding for this project was provided by Arconic Foundation and the Grable Foundation.