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Title : High School Science Updates (almost) Straight From the District
link : High School Science Updates (almost) Straight From the District

High School Science Updates (almost) Straight From the District

I was sent a couple of memos that went out from the head of the district's Science Department, MaryMargaret Welch.  Pretty eye-opening but more to the point, troubling.  It sounds like this whole revamping needs a reset (and some oversight by the Board).  I'll print the key memo at the end of this post but here are the concerning issues.

1) Physics A

In early May, Welch told one Science teacher this:

The adoption is fully funded.  Monies have been allocated for instructional materials purchase.

The application will be made available in the fall. Please watch the web site and do plan to apply.

However, it appears that schools may have thought this was an adoption and that the adoption had happened but neither thing is true.
  
Here's a reply from one school:

Thanks for the information. Consider the cost of PEER, 420 per unit per class, 3 units of phys A is 1260, 9 physics A classes in (BLANK) cost $11340 annually. We can’t afford even  half of the cost year after year.

2) Then there was a memo dated June 21st.  

- The head of the Science department says that they didn't know what kind of science budget high schools have.

We had NO idea the size of your building budgets. They are super small and it truly amazing how much you do with so little. We are a bit embarrassed that we even asked about the cost sharing when we found out how little you have for your entire department. 

- As well, she admits that  - probably for months - that some teachers didn't know what she was talking about because her communications were not clear on what an adoption is and what this current effort is.

Like these changes coming to high school sciences are not an adoption so it's not the same as one, including funding for resource materials.

- They will figure this out by the end of July?  Boy, that doesn't leave a lot of time for teachers to get up to speed on whatever materials are selected AND write lesson plans to work with those. 

- They want teachers to share class sets.  I'm not a teacher in a department but I'd lay odds that sharing is probably not an easy thing.

It would be helpful to get a quick head count per school who wants to use the PEER supplemental resources and how many class sets you need per school (doing your best to share class sets please).

It's unclear what is going to happen in high school science in the fall. 

Entire memo

Dear Colleagues,

OH MY!  What a crazy whirlwind of learning these past two days. We made some assumptions, and actually really didn’t understand some important elements about your buildings. Furthermore, we didn’t clearly communicate some important vocabulary that we need as we move forward. It was confusing! 

Let us make a second attempt at this communication to bring some clarity. 

1. CELEBRATION! Together we have made such important strides forward in learning NGSS and applying these learnings to our practice. So many of you are eager to continue to collaboration and continue to figure this out together.  THANK YOU!
2. Budget Realities: We had NO idea the size of your building budgets. They are super small and it truly amazing how much you do with so little. We are a bit embarrassed that we even asked about the cost sharing when we found out how little you have for your entire department.  Thank you for showing your support and trying to make PEER work in your budget and keep our collaboration alive.
3. Practicalities: Next fall you will sit in front of your new 150+ kids, and you will need instructional materials to teach them. We have moved beyond the wiki and we need aligned materials to teach our students.  So, in an effort to keep us moving forward without rewriting curriculum on our own, we thought we would try another unit from UC Boulder.  These are the same folks that we partnered with for the Waves Unit. But since that next unit has a cost, we were trying to strategize best options. 
4. Adoption Question: Does the district purchase materials during an Adoption? YES, this is true but we are not yet adopting. An adoption is a very formal process that is overseen by the Board Policy 2015, that takes about a year. At the culmination of that year is when monies are given to purchase the selected materials. There are VERY strict rules and protocols. This is a brief overview of the series of events that HS will begin in the fall:
   1. Officially announce the adoption to all stakeholders by creating an Adoption Web Page and communicate broadly
   2. Actively recruit members for the adoption committee from both the staff and the community
   3. Conduct a needs assessment with all stakeholders to seek input on what they hope for in 9-12 science
   4. Meeting with the Instructional Materials Committee, a standing committee that reviews all adoption processes to approve the timeline, approve the adoption committee membership and approve the Racial Equity Tool that we must use during the adoption. 
   5. The Adoption Committee convenes to determine the criteria we will use to evaluate all instructional materials.
   6. District Content Collaborations will give input in each discipline
   7. All potential instructional materials for each discipline are carefully reviewed using the Criteria for Selecting Instructional Materials
   8. Finalists go in to classrooms for piloting. Pilot teachers give input on the effectiveness of the resources. 
   9. The Adoption Committee reviews pilot input along with their own evaluation using the Criteria for Selecting Instructional Materials and make a recommendation to the Instructional Materials Committee
   10. The Instructional Materials Committee makes a recommendation to the Board.
   11. The Board makes the final decision. 

As you can see, this overview is full of necessary checks and balances so that the money can be spent appropriately.

5. PEER Instructional Materials: These are supplemental materials that align to the new standards that some schools have asked to use this year while we evaluate all potential candidates through the Adoption Process. These materials are NOT the adoption.

OK! Where does that leave us now?......... Regroup! 

MM will talk to the PEER folks and figure out how to make something work. We will likely not have an answer until the end of July but we will figure out our best way forward!  If you don’t check your district email over the summer and want us to let you know as early as possible, please send us your home email and we promise to let you know as soon as you know.

We look forward to working with you the week of August 20-24. We are in this together!

Thanks for reading this ridiculously long email!  Send your questions to us and we will do our best to answer as quickly as possible. 

It would be helpful to get a quick head count per school who wants to use the PEER supplemental resources and how many class sets you need per school (doing your best to share class sets please). 

Thank you for your attention and please let us know your questions. We are truly grateful for your collaborative efforts and hope to see you in the summer.

Kim Dinh and MaryMargaret Welch

 

 

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