Superintendent
Superintendent Calls for Another Year of Project with Rice University
This article has been updated to reflect the HISD Board of Education's approval of this plan during its regular monthly meeting on June 14.
Elementary science-test scores are up sharply this year across HISD, and the superintendent of schools announced June 8 that he wants to keep a new elementary science laboratory for teacher-training going for another year.
HISD Superintendent of Schools Abelardo Saavedra asked the Board of Education to authorize another year of the $1.7-million partnership with Rice University that trains elementary-school science teachers in advanced science-instruction techniques. The board approved the proposal during its regular monthly meeting on June 14.
The new elementary science lab at George Sánchez Elementary School has been a big hit among teachers who have trained there over the year since the program was launched. HISD and Rice trained 90 HISD elementary science teachers last year and will train another 80 teachers in the lab this year under the new plan.
HISD, by far the largest school district in Texas, had a strong surge in elementary science scores on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test this past school year. The passing rate for fifth-graders on the English-language version of the science test increased from 65 percent in 2006, before the science lab for teachers was launched, to 71 percent this year. That’s three times as much progress as the rest of Texas made. The average fifth-grade-science passing rate across Texas increased by only two points, to 77 percent.
Even more impressively, the percentage of HISD students rated as "commended" in science, meaning they answered at least 37 out of 40 science questions on the TAKS test correctly, increased from 17 percent in 2006 to 25 percent this year. That’s nearly a 50-percent improvement in one year.
"It’s too early to judge the long-term success of the program, but it certainly looks to have great promise at this point," Dr. Saavedra said. "It is critically important that children get a strong grounding in science in elementary school. By giving this intensive training to our science teachers in the best ways to teach children about science, we can help children learn far more at an early age."
At the new elementary lab, teacher interns spend one day a week in intensive training throughout the year. Working with other teacher interns and facilitators, teachers learn what works—and what doesn’t—as they strive to grow and improve as science teachers.
Rice’s Center for Education provides intensive background knowledge in science, utilizing the HISD elementary science curriculum as a foundation for teacher professional development. Rice also provides an associate director and lab facilitator as well as an associate director for campus support who helps teacher interns apply what they’ve learned when they return to their schools and classrooms. HISD provides the lab space, teacher interns, and a director, as well as a campus support-staff member.
Every school that sends a teacher intern to the program will contribute $1,000 toward the cost of the program. The remaining cost of the program will be paid with nearly $652,000 from Rice University, state grants of $140,000, and federal funds totaling nearly $814,000.
