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Needs
Assessment In
the fall of 2004, the Virginia Department of Education issued a
request for proposals (RFP) to increase the number of endorsed earth
science teachers in the Commonwealth, with funding to come from the
Mathematics & Science Partnership (MSP) grant funded through
Title II, Part B of the No Child Left Behind Act of 200 [1].
In Three
methodologies were used to assess the needs of the 134 divisions
within the Commonwealth:
Of the 134 Divisions’ Report of
Needs. The 71
divisions reported 565 earth science teachers with 146 of them not
fully endorsed. This represented 26.7% of the teaching force.
Annually, divisions tended to employ 139 novice teachers with 49% of
them not fully endorsed in earth science. Obtaining endorsed
teachers was a major issue for middle schools that taught Earth
Science as an acceleration option. The divisions projected 191
teacher participants including unendorsed teachers and endorsed
teachers that wanted to improve their academic background or
teaching skills in Earth Science. Within the 71 divisions, 182 high
and middle schools taught Earth Science. Of these schools, 56 had
fewer than 70% of their students passing the statewide end-of-course
Earth Science Test, which is based upon Teachers’
Self-Report of Needs. Of
the 324 teachers submitting surveys of intent to participate, 227
were endorsed in high school science subjects and 97 were endorsed
in middle school or special education. At the time of the RFP, Virginia
Licensure Regulations for School Personnel [6] provided an
option for teachers endorsed in biology, chemistry, or physics, to
obtain an “Add-On Earth Science Endorsement” by taking 18
semester credits in the Earth Sciences including preparation in
geology, oceanography, meteorology, and astronomy. Other teachers,
including those endorsed in middle school science or special
education, had to meet the requirements of the full Earth Science
Endorsement which included a total of 32 hours of oceanography,
meteorology, astronomy and geology (18 credits required). Generally,
teachers preferred summer courses and weekend courses combined with
the web. Teachers rated their conceptual understanding and teaching
skills on 31 dimensions using the following scale: 1 – not well
qualified, 2- adequately qualified, and 3- very well qualified. On
the six content dimensions included in the RFP typical ratings were
1 and 2, with the order of confidence, least to greatest, being:
petrology and minerals, paleontology and historical geology,
physical oceanography, astronomy, structural/tectonics, and
meteorology. Teachers considered themselves “adequately” to
“well qualified” to teach terms and facts, concepts, and process
skills and to engage students in understanding the nature of
science; this confidence may have been derived, in part, from their
experience in teaching other scientific disciplines.
Teachers typically considered themselves “not well
qualified” to help students learn applications and to use
technology including GIS, GPS, calculator and computer-based labs,
Internet collaborative projects, and computer simulations. Over 140
teachers expressed an interest in a course on effective strategies
for integrating new technologies into the earth sciences. Another
need, expressed on an open-ended question, was assistance with
collaborative education including improved content understanding for
special education teachers and improved differentiation strategies
for regular Earth Science teachers. Project Goals & Funding Based upon the needs
assessment, the Virginia Earth Science Collaborative (VESC)
developed four project goals: 1.
Increase the pool of
endorsed earth science teachers by offering the coursework needed
for the Add-On Earth Science Endorsement in various geographic areas
of 2.
Increase teachers’
conceptual understanding of the Earth Sciences and their ability to
deliver inquiry-oriented instruction by developing and offering
Earth Science courses appropriate for teachers; 3.
Increase the number of
highly qualified Earth Science teachers by piloting courses in three
identified need areas: use of effective strategies including new
technologies, improved collaborative teaching of Earth Science, and
a targeted course for sixth grade teachers; 4.
Establish a statewide
collaborative that can be used to continuously lead and inform
decisions and programs related to the teaching and learning of Earth
Science. A proposal based upon these goals was submitted to the Virginia Department of Education and funding of $920,848 was awarded for the period of March 2005 to September 2006. Based upon the success of the project, a second award of $351,649 was made between March 2006 and September 2007. Finally, a special award of $35,017 enabled development and funding of a special issue of this journal. A total of $1,307,514 in MSP funding was matched by $237, 000 from the VESC partners. References [1]
J. Demary, Mathematics and Science Partnership Competitive
Grant Programs for 2004-05, [2]
J. Cothron, Needs Assessment, [3]
J. Cothron, Teacher Survey, [4]
I.R. Weiss, Status
of Secondary School Earth Science Teaching, A Component of the
2000 National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education, Horizon
Research, Inc, NC, 2002, Internet:
http://www.horizon-research.com [5]
Standards of Learning for K-12 Science, Virginia
Department of Education, Richmond, VA, 2003, Internet: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Instruction/sol.html#sciencesuperintendent/sols/sicencesol.pdf [6]
Virginia Licensure Regulations for School Personnel, |
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