Project RACE: Rigorous Academic Curriculum for Everyone

Project Design: Project RACE is a high quality professional development program targeting Kentucky’s Program of Studies which is aligned with national science standards. Kentucky’s Program of Studies explicitly states applying factual knowledge in real-world scientific contexts allows students to refine the abilities that are the basis of scientific inquiry.

The goals of the project R.A.C.E. are: (1) to increase teacher/administrator content knowledge in science/STEM; (2) to improve student performance in science; and (3) to increase science teachers’ implementation of research-based instructional practices

Attainment of Goals: 1)During the academic school year, R.A.C.E. Professional Development Sessions (minimum of 27 hours per year) will operate as a Professional Learning Community.

WHY A PLC? R.A.C.E.’s chosen model is the PLC which has a research design stretching across a number of schools and where individuals learn from and support each other in the immersion of the content of what they teach in order to increase their effectiveness for students.

Attainment of Goals: 2) Summer College/Career Readiness Colloquium with emphasis on Job- embedded PD. The design of the summer program will be focused on standard based foundations, gender awareness, social economic concerns, and general learner needs to meet diverse learner needs.

Attainment Continued: Teachers will learn curriculum delivery while being provided with activities, resources, and technology tools to teach these activities such as; roller coasters, aviation, and engineering while embracing environmental concerns. After each STEM job-embedded activity teachers will create Standards Based Lessons. *see agenda

Data Collection: Goals Specifically Linked to Identified Learning Needs Expected Impacts/ Results Evidence qualitativequantitative Goal 1:increase TEACHER content knowledge and access to researched-based instructional pedagogy in science % of teacher participants will increase science content knowledge DTAMS-Diagnostic Teacher Assessments in Math and Science 1.2 Given a pre/post teacher survey,40% increase yr 1 and 85% increase yr 2 of participants will report increased confidence in their own abilities to utilize new strategies Lesson Plan creation, curriculum maps Horizon- Inside the Classroom Questionnaire

Results: 1) Overall test results showed that 80% increased their score, ranging from 10% to 20% with an overall increase of 7.1% (71% pretest and 78.1% on post-test). Twelve percent of the teachers scored the same from pre-test to post test results, and 8% decreased by one point on the test. 2) On teacher survey (Horizon Inside the Classroom Questionnaire Teachers Science Instruction Survey) a slight increase of 2% was observed drawing from sixteen questions that specifically address the teacher respondent's perspective regarding their own instructional preparedness in science. **A larger increase will be expected in year 2 due to a longer programming window.

Student Data: Goals Specifically Linked to Identified Learning Needs Expected Impacts/ Results Evidence qualitativequantitative Goal 2: Improve STUDENT performance in science 2.1 Middle/high school student assessment will show 10% increase yr 1 (due to limited implementation time in year1) and 15% increase yr 2 in content knowledge using NAEP released items NAEP released items, KPREP % increase yr 1 and 15% increase yr 2 in the number of students reporting more real world application of science as evidenced from a student per/post survey Student survey created by evaluator Administrator walk-through

Results:  Participating teachers testing average is 6% higher than non-participating  Common Assessment scores are on average 5% higher than their colleagues.

Administrator Data: Goals Specifically Linked to Identified Learning Needs Expected Impacts/ Results Evidence qualitativequantitative Goal 3: Increase ADMINISTRATORS content knowledge and access to implementation of research- based instructional practices % increase yr 1 and 30% increase in the participation of a Science Leadership network by administrators from participating counties Open ended questions on Professional Learning sessions Workshop evaluation and attendance data % increase yr 1 and 20% increase yr 2 in the number of administrators perceiving themselves as competent to evaluate science classes as evidenced from an administrator per/post survey Systemic Change through Teacher Enhancement Principal Questionnaire % increase yr 1 and 20% increase yr 2 in the number of administrators perceiving themselves as competent to evaluate science classes as evidenced from an administrator per/post survey Systemic Change through Teacher Enhancement Principal Questionnaire

Results:  Overall pre-test average score was 72% with an overall post test average score of 80%. This yielded an increase in overall percent of eight percent.  In addition, 95% of the administrators who engaged in the post project survey deemed themselves highly qualified to evaluate science classes in their buildings

Accomplishments:  Goals and objectives of the grant have either been met for current project or are in progress.  Implementation of walkthroughs in teachers classrooms  The increase in other areas of the DTAMS does provide further evidence that the project personnel have successfully addressed STEM integration into the science content.

Lessons Learned:  Our biggest challenge was the effort and negotiation processes invested in developing, drafting and testing the "walk-through" instrument to be used in classroom observations. Obtaining agreement from administrations in three counties and from five different administrators has been a monumental challenge  Secondly, our Georgetown professors/STEM Academy have been instrumental as content providers and providing practical activities teachers can use in their classrooms. Proving that choosing high-quality partners is a key to the success of the program.

Challenges: Our biggest challenge has been retirees/transfers and attendance.