Curriculum Leadership Institute

Pathways to School Improvement

science

Want to Improve Reading Comprehension? Keep Science and Social Studies in the Elementary Schools

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It is a familiar scenario and solution.  The pressure is felt to improve reading skills to score higher on standardized tests.  Elementary teachers can’t extend the school day, so they borrow time from a content area which doesn’t have a state assessment or one not as often.   Social studies and science take a backseat.   Even though this move seems logical with the best intentions, the results are counterproductive. Since the 1990s, the amount of instructional time in science and social studies has decreased over 90 minutes per week.   It is often the first place teachers look to “pull” students from if they need interventions. Unfortunately, by cutting these courses, the opportunities for developing content vocabulary and knowledge about real life is also reduced. 

Why teach social studies and science?  Social studies classes provide content knowledge, but most importantly, students learn the foundation for why it is necessary to contribute to society as a good citizen.   Science activities are a way to capture the interest of students with fun, hands-on, and minds-on lessons.  Learning activities related to science and social studies help students develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills while connecting concepts to their world. 

Support for the Key Shifts in English/Language Arts Standards  Many states have revised their English/Language Arts Standards in recent years and have outlined key shifts from past standards. Continuing to schedule regular science and social studies classes allows opportunities to teach needed skills. The background knowledge gained from social studies and science provides the context to understand new and complex text for greater comprehension.   Reading about science is no replacement for phenomenon or inquiry, but it can help build the knowledge base for “doing” science.   Plus, citing textual evidence from informational text helps provide pieces necessary for accurate analysis of an investigation.  

Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension English/Language Arts Standards require students to use domain-specific words in their writing and while speaking.  Science and social studies classes provide opportunities for students to learn word meanings, read and hear them applied correctly in context, and use the words for communicating.  Students receiving explicit instruction over the meanings of affixes and root words benefits the current class, but that knowledge is utilized by the students to become stronger readers in all classes.  Vocabulary acquisition improves the comprehension of complex literary and informational text.

Student Engagement  A significant, well-documented reason to keep regularly scheduled science and social studies classes, is that students love the activities these topics provide!  The natural fit for collaboration and project-based learning allows students opportunities for implicit learning, developing good work habits, and applying what they learn to their lives.  Learning while having fun is impactful in many ways!

Teachers are well aware of the importance of reading on grade level by the 3rd grade.  If this doesn’t happen, opportunities to be successful in the future will be more of a challenge.  Capturing every moment available for learning is critical.  If you are interested in utilizing an integrated approach to teach more than one content area at the same time, download CLI’s FREE Civic Education Resource, Life, Liberty, Law.  This resource is aligned to National Standards in Social Studies but also references ELA, Math, Science, Fine Arts, and Social/Emotional Learning Standards.  Get yours at cliweb.org/resources-2. 

There’s Something To See Here

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download_pdf_smFull of hope and excitement, we once again find ourselves at the beginning of a new school year!  As reality hits and task lists grow, the excitement may soon fade; however, there are still spectacular things happening all over the country in education, as Jay Harnack, Superintendent in Sublette County School District #1, Pinedale, Wyoming reminds us in his recent blog (reprinted here with his permission).  Are you celebrating your fireworks?

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Jay Harnack

If you’re a fan of 80’s comedies like I am, you count Naked Gun as one of the classics.  The “Nothing to See Here” scene in this film is one of my favorites.   Police Lt. Frank Drebin arrives on the scene of an exploding fireworks factory (where there is plenty to see) and emphatically states, “Move on, nothing to see here, please disperse!”   As a movie character, its Drebin’s propensity to miss the obvious that makes him funny.

Well folks, there are a lot of fireworks going off in terms of student performance in Wyoming, and I sincerely hope that we aren’t about to have Drebin moment.

As an educator, I’ve been keen to point out that test results are merely a snapshot in time, and the success of students should not be based solely on these kinds of tests.

After the Wyoming Supreme Court cases on education funding significantly increased the funding level for all school districts, the expectation from legislators and the media was that student performance would rapidly increase.  It didn’t, and during this time it was quite common to hear concerns from legislators and the media that Wyoming was not getting a good “bang for the buck” when it comes to education.  And in truth, we weren’t.  But like all good investments, the return on the investment is rarely immediate.

Wyoming educators of all description have asked for patience, noting that change takes time.  As a superintendent, I can speak personally to the fact that change in education does take time.  This is an industry that deals with human performance factors, and changing the factors that positively influence teaching and learning requires a lot of professional development, as well as changes in practice and behaviors; endeavors that are certainly time intensive.

But fireworks are beginning to go off.   A press release from the Wyoming Education Association noted that Senators Coe and Wasserburger, along with Representatives Northrup and Connolly, returned from the Council of State Governments-West (CSG West), and shared some positive numbers regarding education in Wyoming, that were presented to them in late July. Senator Coe and Representative Northrup are the co-chairs for the Education Committee. Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig, Professor of Education leadership and Policy Studies at the California Sacramento State University presented numbers to the CSG-West showing Wyoming leading the Western states in NAEP/TIMSS Science scores and sixth in the world. Wyoming’s NAEP/TIMMS Math scores also ranked first in the Western states and eighth in the world.  The statistical calculations by the National Center for Educational Statistics also show that Wyoming is statistically tied for number two in the world in Science, behind Finland.

Unlike our state-wide student assessments, the NAEP/TIMMS test is a stable, nationally recognized assessment, given world-wide.  Unlike our current state-wide student assessment, it can be used to make comparisons between the performance of Wyoming students and students in other states and countries.

The gains made by Wyoming schools the past few years, particularly in Math and Science, are no joke.  Second in the world in Science!  Sixth in the world in Math!   These results represent a lot of hard work by educators all across Wyoming, and I can only wonder if the same degree of effort will be made by our legislators and newspapers in acknowledging our successes, as was exerted in noting the lack of progress.   There are some significant fireworks to see here, and I genuinely hope that, collectively, we don’t seek to temper the good news.

FireworkThat being said, there’s a broader point to be made.  As an educator, I’ve been keen to point out that test results are merely a snapshot in time, and the success of students should not be based solely on these kinds of tests.  It was all too easy for our critics to point to selected test scores and say that Wyoming education was failing.  It would be just as easy for the K-12 education community to note these high scores and take our foot off the gas.  Neither success, nor failure, are permanent states of being in education, and an over-reaction to either is detrimental to continuous improvement.

These scores are great news.  They are fireworks.  They are definitely something to see, and we should celebrate them.  They are not however, arrival at our destination, or the finale.  They are a way point on the road to continued success, just as failure is a different kind of way point on the same road.    We still have a lot of work to do, but when educators, legislators, and members of the media all begin to place both failure and success within the context of process, rather than product, I believe we will ignite even greater student achievement growth in Wyoming.