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This story was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.
A decade ago, schools in California introduced a new K-12 scientific curriculum, which was practical, interactive and intended to prepare students for the challenges of the 21st century.
But as the state began to test students to the new scientific standards of the next generation in 2019, the first time California evaluated students in science, the test scores almost did not pass, with great gaps among some groups of students.
“To a large extent, science is not seen as a priority. It has been moved to the back burner,” says Jessica Soko, Director of Education in the Children of the Organization for Research and Advocacy, now and a former head of the State Association of Science Teachers. “But science must be a priority. How will we prepare our children to make sense of the world around them?”
In 2019, three years after most schools began teaching the new science curriculum, only 30% of the students met the State Exam standard. Last year, the number reached only 30.7%.
Wide gaps exist among student groups. Among students whose parents have graduated from college, 42% have met the standard, compared to 17% of those whose parents have never exceeded high school. Less than 21% of low-income students meet the standard. Only 15% of black students meet the standard compared to 61% of Asian students.
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Delays and obstacles
There are several reasons for stagnant results, experts said. The closure of pandemic schools significantly determines the achievement of all subjects, but especially affects science, since such a large part of the new curricula for scientific curricula in practical projects that were almost impossible to increase.
And after the pandemic, schools focused their efforts to restore literacy, mathematics and attendance, the most striking challenges when students returned to personal education. Chronic absences, for example, increased from 10% before a pandemic to 30% in 2022.
Another reason for the low science results is accountability, Soko and others said. For the first few years of the new science test, the results were not published in the country Control panel - The main means of publishing the academic results of students. The justification is that the test was new and the state was still working on the cakes.
Last year, the results were published at the bottom of the dashboard in an area noted "Information Goals". Unlike other characteristics of the board, such as evaluations of the arts in mathematics and English, science was not colored coded to indicate the level of implementation of individual schools or students. The results of the science were tight gray.
When the new results are released this fall, the science will be colorful encoded on the dashboard, but science is still not full accountability, lawyers said. Low -quality schools will not be separated from the state for additional assistance, although this may change next year.
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Another obstacle is the education of teachers. After California accepted the new standards, it did not invest in professional development until 2023. For many years the regions used their own funds or found private grants to pay for teachers, but by the fall of 2020, at least 30% -40% of teachers did not receive training in the new standards, according to A exploration by the California Association of Scientific Teachers. Teachers in low-income schools and rural areas have received the least training.
In 2023, the state allocated $ 85 million to improve education in mathematics, science and computer science, but only about $ 1.5 million went to educate science teachers. The rest went to train teachers in mathematics and computer science - who also recently received new standards - both to host family stems and other activities. The money went to the district offices of education to distribute locally.
The grant expires in 2027 and it is essential for the state to continue this investment, said Shari Staub, complicit in the California Partnership in Mathematics, Science and Computer Science.
"We are daily faced with the challenges in public health, the challenges of climate, the challenges of justice - all the things that the scientifically literate population must be able to cope not only for California but also for the world," Stab said. "If we do not invest in science, we do not prepare students for the world they enter."
Three -dimensional training
The next generation scientific standards were established in 2011 for a non -profit purpose of education called Achoge, with the help of 26 states and dozens of scientific education experts. The idea was to make science more engaging and "three-dimensional", as the authors put it, by combining concepts from multiple scientific disciplines so that students could find models and systems. Students would have acquired the skills for critical thinking and a solid understanding of scientific concepts, largely through practical projects, not listening to lectures.
Many schools in California have accepted new standards and improves results. In fact, public schools in California - especially those in technology centers - have some of the best scientific programs in the country. California students routinely win the National Science Cup, the Olympiad of Science and other national competitions.
For their bigger part, these areas invested their own funds at the beginning of the deployment to train their teachers. And they have strong support from parents, financial and otherwise. This is PTA funds that teachers can use to pay for scientific excursions or additional assistance in the classroom, many parents' volunteer volunteers and overall expectation that scientific education is a priority.
None of the best schools were low-income schools, but they were also not all homogeneous wealthy schools. Some of them had 25% or more low -income students, large percentages of learning English and diverse students. They may have PTA support, but they do not receive a lot of extra money from the state because they do not have a large number of high students with high needs.
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La Cañada Unified near Pasadena, for example, received only $ 13,700 per student last year from the state, about $ 5,000 less than a national average. But more than 77% of students met or exceeded scientific standards last year, some of the highest results in the country.
Each elementary school in the field has a scientific laboratory and assistant to support scientific projects. The summer camp, called "Stem-Nauts", combines older students with younger games and scientific-themed experiments. The high school offers five lessons for sophisticated accommodation sciences and numerous extracurricular activities related to science, including the Astronomy Club, the Neuroscience Club and the Chemistry Club. Students can make internships at NASA's engines, which is a quarter of a mile from high school.
"In our area, the children of science are cool children," says James Cartnel, assistant chief. "Science is part of the culture here. We work deliberately and very difficult to do it this way."
“Think like scientists”
At Middle School Lawson in Cupertino science, it is almost a favorite subject of everyone. Scientific classrooms are stormy places with students conducting experiments and try to come up with solutions. The shelves are well fitted with glasses, flakes and microscopes. The colored tapestries of the periodic table hang from the ceiling. Anime transmissions of the elements - including Xenon, Helium, Germanium, Cadmium - decorate the walls.
A recent afternoon, students in Emily Adams' eighth class have made a measurement lesson. Adams started by asking them why accurate measurements were important. Their answers: So the astronauts know how much fuel is left in their rocket; So truck drivers know if their car will fit at an overpass; And so doctors know how much medicine they give to a patient.
Then they worked in groups to measure different objects, using an infrared thermometer, electronic scale and other tools.
"This class is fun. I like all the laboratories, figuring out how things work in the real world," said student Neil Daman. "PE is my favorite class, but it's second."
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Adams said the class is typical as it spends about 10 minutes to explain several basic concepts and students spend the rest of the class for concept projects. "I want them to focus on skills and critical thinking, not just to regurgitate facts," Adams said. "I want them to think like scientists."
Cupertino is at the heart of the Silicon Valley, the home of the Apple Computer headquarters and dozens of technological start -ups. Google and Facebook are a few miles away. Despite the lure of the six -digit salaries in the Silicon Valley, the Cupertino Union's school district has a very small turnover among science teachers, a key reason for science results to be so tall, said Marie Crawford, director of the field of education and intervention.
"Teachers know each other, work together, help each other," Crawford said. "This makes a big difference."
Like La Cañada, Cupertino Union's school area does not receive much money from the state. Last year, the state provided $ 16,400 per student, far below the state average.
In the class of teacher, Merichien Fam, the eighth -grader Aana Dhar and her classmates demonstrated how to find the mass of marble by putting him in a cylinder with water and weighing the cylinder before and after. The answer: 3 milliliters.
"Maybe I want to be a scientist when I grow up," Dhar said. "I like to learn about new things, to experiment, to know how things work."
This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.
