Susan M. SchelbleDepartment of Chemistry, (MSCD) Metropolitan State College of Denver Denver, Colorado

TExtending Chemistry is in the News

to High School Programs

TDenver Public Schools(DPS)

Teacher Quality Enhancement Grant(TQE)

Te5 Year Collaboration through

TWHOxt

Teacher Education Department (TED)Liberal Arts School (LAS)

at MSCDText

TWHATxt

Populations

MSCD DPS22,500

Downtown Denver

300-40010-40

Enrollment

Campus

Education Majors

Science

78,000

Metro Denver

10 HS, 18 MS

WHY

DPS MSCDImprove teacher

retentionIncrease science

licensure

Science redesign of

curriculum

Secondary scienceredesign

HOW

Change current course structure for science curriculum at DPS

Grade 6Grade 7

Grade 8*Grade 9

Grade 10*Grade 11Grade 12

Mixture of all science topicsMixture of all science topicsMixture of all science topics

Life scienceElectiveElectiveElective

HOW

New structure for DPS science curriculum (Field Testing 2006/07)

Grade 6Grade 7Grade 8*Grade 9Grade 10*Grade 11Grade 12

Weather, atmosphere, earthLife sciencePhysical scienceEarth science and/or electiveLife science and/or electiveChemistry or physics and/or electiveChemistry or physics and/or elective/none

* CSAP for Science given to all students

STANDARDS

123456

Scientific inquiry & investigation

Text

Physical science

Life scienceext

Earth and space science

Interrelationips with IT, humanities

Connections among sciences

Changing Strategies90/90/90 Schools*

Text

* Reeves, Douglas, Accountability in Action, 2006

1. Strong emphasis on achievement 2. Clear curricular choices3. Frequent assessment and chances to

improve.4. Strong emphasis on writing.5. External scoring of student work.

Becoming Successful

Reality in most schoolsState Norm TestsPD daysTraditional gradingIndependent contentTeaching isolationTeaching is a secretTests only grading objective

Successful schoolsAssessment w/ shared rubricOn-going peer coachingSome shared assessmentIntegration of contentCollaboration Clear expectationsMultiple types of assessments are used

EFFECTS OF GROUP INQUIRY

Term ACS %tile Retention

S 1998S 1999S2000S2001S2002S2003

616063636165

788389879496

Challenges

Universal computer accessLibrary accessClass timeGroup grading???



Funding1) NSFCCLI- A&I

2)Colorado Section ACSStudent Travel Grants

3)UCDHSCUndergraduate Research Opportunity Fund

4)US Dept. EducationSecondary Teacher Enhancement Project

5)ACSProject SEED

Colorado Student Assistants

Elaine Martinez

Shannon Hopkins

Janene Filareki Filarecki

Eric Lupo Erik Angles

Cindy Hickel

Collaborators

DPS MSCDSharon Sikora

Jim ShortDebbie Hearty

Angie Powers (TED)Nancy Sasaki (BIO)Melanie Haas (TQE)Dennis Dell (TQE)