Description:

The Office of Shared Accountability in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) conducted a multiyear evaluation of the implementation and outcomes of a science professional development (PD) initiative at the elementary school level. The implementation and evaluation of this three-year program (2013-2014 through 2015-2016) were supported by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). This report documents the implementation of HHMI grant components during the third year of the initiative (2015-2016), provides feedback obtained through a follow-up survey, and reports findings from a student outcome analysis. See reports for prior years of the grant (Wolanin and Wade, 2015a and 2015b).

Recommendations:

• In order to transition elementary teachers to NGSS, adopted by the state of Maryland, and the approaching Maryland Integrated Science Assessment (MISA), which is aligned with NGSS, (MSDE, 2016a and 2016b), continue to offer K-5 professional development with the goals of increasing the understanding and implementation of all NGSS practices, and reaching more teachers and more schools. Additionally, continue to explore ways to increase the emphasis of science in schools and the availability of science and engineering resources to teachers.
• Encourage participating teachers to share what they have learned in PD beyond grade level teams, to extend the reach of the knowledge and skills learned about the NGSS practices.

File Name: HH Grant Yr 3 Rpt Draft_1_31.lgp.dh.pdf (1.1MB PDF)