4 California School Districts Create Professional Development Program for Science Teachers
Four school districts in the San Jose area are implementing a professional
development program designed to help middle school science teachers gain
confidence with hands-on learning experiences in science classrooms. The
program, called the "Middle School Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
Leadership Alliance" also aims to improve the leadership skills of 25 "Teacher
Leaders" so they can mentor other science teachers in their districts.
Evergreen, Franklin-McKinley, Mount Pleasant and Oak Grove school districts, which are all part
of San Jose's East
Side Alliance, will participate in the program developed by Resource Area for Teaching (RAFT) and New Teacher Center (NTC). RAFT is
an educational organization with experience in hands-on learning, and NTC
focuses on improving the effectiveness of new teachers and school leaders.
RAFT and NTC will work with and train four leads from the program "to
develop and maintain lab classrooms, which will be model centers of hands-on
science teaching, ultimately impacting every middle-school science teacher and
student in the four districts," according to a news release from RAFT, and the
25 Teacher Leaders selected to participate in this program "will receive
ongoing leadership training and practical hands-on experience in implementing
the NGSS."
Texas Instruments is supporting the Middle
School NGSS Leadership Alliance with multi-year funding, and Technology Credit Union has contributed
funding for the first year of the program. Texas Instruments chose to support
this program as part of its philanthropic efforts in part because of its
potential to reach "under-represented students, especially girls, African
Americans and Hispanics," said Andy Smith, Director of corporate philanthropy
for Texas Instruments, in a prepared statement.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].