The Copernicus Project University of California, Riverside Graduate School of Education

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The Copernicus Project University of California,
Riverside Graduate School of Education

• A Consortium for the Preparation of Highly
  Qualified Science Teachers Centering the
  Enhancement of Teacher Quality Across the
  Professional Development Continuum
• Funded by the U.S. Dept. of Education
• Office of Postsecondary Education

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The Copernicus Project

• Linda Scott Hendrick Principal Investigator
• Athena Waite Co-Principal Investigator
• Jocelyn Edey Director
• Cathy Lussier Co-Director
• Raymond Hurst Education Business Liaison

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Funded by the Department of Education, Office of
Postsecondary Education Teacher Quality
Enhancement Grants

• Federal funds account for 63 of project costs
  11,569,806
• Cost sharing/matching contributions from project
  partners account for 37 of project costs
  6,702,187

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The Copernicus Project

• Goals, objectives outcomes
• Raise substantially the number, quality
  diversity of Californias science teachers
• Provide tested, inspiring, on-line science
  modules for teachers
• Create a national model program for Science
  Education
• Centered in the early identification of future
  Science teachers recruitment of diverse teacher
  candidates high quality focused teacher
  preparation and sustained, mentored support of
  new veteran teachers

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The Copernicus Project

• Collaborative for Science Education
• Spans teacher preparation from early recruitment
  through 2 years of professional induction
• Engages all partners fully and continuously at
  all points along the teaching continuum
• Shared vision
• recruit and nurture culturally diverse science
  teachers
• cultivate deep science subject matter knowledge
  and expert pedagogy
• improve significantly students science
  achievement

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Evidence of Need

• National need
• schools are not producing the Science excellence
  required for global economic leadership and
  homeland security in the 21st century (USDE,
  2004)
• a key challenge for undergraduate education is
  preparing K-12 Science Mathematics teachers
  (NSF, 2002)
• The nations school districts will need to hire
  240,000 middle and high school Science
  Mathematics teachers in the next 10 years

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Evidence of Need

• Californias need
• From 2001-2010 approximately 250,000 teachers
  must be hired statewide
• Interest in teaching appears to be decreasing
• Students in high needs schools with significantly
  diverse students are most likely to be taught by
  unqualified teachers, particularly in Science
• 53 of fourth grade students scored below the
  basic level in Science (2000 NAEP Science
  Assessment)
• A flat line in Science achievement for the past
  30 years

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Evidence of Need

• Regional need
• Over 20 of children ages 5-17 live in poverty
• Approximately 50 of school aged children receive
  free or reduced price meals
• Nearly 20 of parents did not graduate from high
  school
• Achievement scores are consistently lower than
  more affluent less diverse neighboring Counties

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Evidence of Need

• District need
• Districts continue to request emergency permits
  for Science teachers
• Example
• A Copernicus district partner will need to hire
  10 15 Science teachers this year
• This district also expects to hire 50-60 Science
  teachers over the next 5 years

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• The Copernicus Project
• Partners

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Copernicus Partners

• Institutions of Higher Education
• Four-Year Institutions
• University of California, Riverside
• California State University, San Bernardino
• California Baptist University
• Community Colleges
• Chaffey College
• Pasadena City College
• Riverside Community College
• Santa Monica College

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Copernicus Partners (continued)

• School Districts
• Corona-Norco Unified School District
• Moreno Valley Unified School District
• Palm Springs Unified School District
• Riverside Unified School District
• Lewis Center for Educational Research
• Teacher Support Center, Riverside County Office
  of Education
• Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce

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• The Developmental Teacher Preparation Continuum

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Summer Science Institutes (SSIs)

• Annual 2-week Science enrichment classes for high
  school students taught by pre-service, new and
  veteran teachers
• Intensive design and development in collaboration
  with all partners and university faculty
• Year one (2005) Biological/Life sciences
• Year two Geo/Earth sciences
• Year three Chemistry Elementary Science
• Year four Physics Elementary Science
• Year five Mathematics and Science

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Summer Science Institutes (continued)

• High school student participants from high need
  schools
• Some high school participants will be placed in
  intern positions at local science-based
  businesses
• Subsequent SSIs deepen science content knowledge
  for elementary school teachers through the
  teaching of literacy
• Teacher candidates along the teaching continuum
  experience additional supervised clinical
  experiences

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Summer Science Institutes (continued)

• Integration of technology and Copernicus science
  modules, accessible on the Internet
• First two SSIs will be implemented at UCR in
  collaboration with the College of Natural
  Agricultural Sciences (CNAS) faculty
• Institutes will be replicated at partner IHEs in
  subsequent years

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Summer Science Institutes (continued)

• Provide opportunities for all teachers across the
  teaching continuum to deepen subject matter
  knowledge and further develop pedagogical content
  knowledge
• Encourage collaboration among teachers and
  students
• Assist participants teaching out of their
  authorized credential area to earn a degree
  authorization in science(NCLB compliant)
• Assist experienced science teachers to enrich
  science instruction

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Building a Teacher Education Pipeline

• Develop Science Subject Matter Preparation
  Programs (SSMP) to
• Meet California Commission on Teacher
  Credentialings criteria standards
• Exceed federal NCLB criteria for highly
  qualified teachers
• Waive required subject matter examinations
  (Science CSET) for teacher candidates
• Increase collaboration between undergraduate
  science faculty and Teacher Education faculty

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Building a Teacher Education Pipeline

• Science Blended Programs will be developed at
  4-year partner IHEs to
• Offer early decidingstudents an enriched
  blended undergraduate science major
• Include early professional field experiences
• Provide a fast track to classroom teaching
• Allow transfer to partner 4-year IHEs through an
  articulated community college curriculum
• Implement a Science Blended Program

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Building a Teacher Education Pipeline

• Provides one Teacher Education Program
  Specialist at each partnering community college
• Conducts transfer workshops for student
  course-taking advisement for participation in the
  Science Blended Program
• Works with community college counselors to place
  students in paid summer internships in university
  laboratories

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Building a Teacher Education Pipeline

• Lower division university students and community
  college pre-teachers complete 30-plus hours of
  field work
• Students explore the role of teaching grounded in
  national and state standards
• Participants gain hands-on experience and early
  practice-based apprenticeships with a mentor
  teacher
• Students adopt and use the GSTAR e-portfolio
  system (or other suitable system) throughout the
  professional development continuum

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Building a Teacher Education Pipeline

• At the university level
• Expand clinical work experiences and integrate
  them fully with science and education coursework
• Provide sequenced clinical experiences from the
  beginning of the college or four-year university
  experience through teacher preparation
• Culminate in a Teacher Education Program
  resulting in a Preliminary Credential

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Building a Teacher Education Pathway

• UCR uses a Professional School model to
• Prepare prospective teachers
• Provide professional development for experienced
  teachers
• Encourage research-based educational practice
• Copernicus design
• Includes students who historically have had the
  least access to postsecondary education
• Reflects the demographics of the region

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Building a Teacher Education Pipeline

• The Performance Assessment for California
  Teachers (PACT)
• SB 2042 mandates a Teacher Performance Assessment
  (TPA) for preliminary teaching credential
• PACT is an alternative TPA
• UC and CSU campuses, private colleges and
  community colleges have developed PACT
• UCRs Galileo/GSTAR e-portfolio system documents
  PACT requirements and professional development
  progress

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In-Service Science Teacher Professional
Development

• RCOEs Teacher Support Center (TSC) will prepare
  teachers for the Science CSET
• TSC will provide professional development for
  science teachers of English Learners
• TSC will focus on training school leaders and
  administrators to support science teachers
• The electronic portfolio will continue across a
  teachers career trajectory to document
  professional clear credential and National Board
  Certification competencies

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Copernicus ProjectEvaluation Plan Components

• Increased student science achievement
• Increased retention of science teachers
• Increased number of credential-holding science
  teachers in California
• Effective teaching of science through literacy in
  elementary grades
• Increased percentage of class instruction in
  science by project participants
• Increased teacher training in technology
• PACT research evaluation design components

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Copernicus Project Evaluation

• Evaluators
• Ray Pechone, Academic Research Program Officer/
  PACT Director, Stanford University
• David Boyns, Professor of Sociology, California
  State University, Northridge
• Rita Karam, Policy Researcher, RAND Corporation
• Judith Sandholtz, Education Professor, UCR

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Copernicus Project Letters of Support

• Jack OConnell, Superintendent, CDE
• Sam Swofford, Executive Director, CTC
• Robert Dynes, UC President
• France Cordova, UCR Chancellor
• Sharon Duffy, Interim Dean Professor, UCR GSOE
• Richard Cardullo, Professor of Biology, UCR
• Michael Rettig, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry
  , UCR
• David Crowley, Professor of Environmental
  Microbiology, UCR
• Pamela Clute, Executive Director, Alpha Center,
  Lecturer , UCR
• Betty Benzor, Director, Early Academic Outreach ,
  UCR
• Judith Sandholtz, Professor of Education , UCR
• Paul Larsen, Assistant Professor, Plant
  Biochemistry Molecular Biology , UCR

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Copernicus Project Letters of Support

• L. Alan Fossett, Chair, Dept. of Natural
  Mathematical Sciences, California Baptist
  University
• Dennis Bideshi, Assistant Professor of Biology,
  California Baptist University
• Patricia Arlin, Dean, College of Education,
  California State University, San Bernardino
• Marie Kane, Superintendent/President, Chaffey
  College
• Inge Pelzer, Executive Asst. to the
  Superintendent-President, Lecturer, Chaffey
  College
• James Kossler, President, Pasadena City College
• Michael Finkenbinder, Division Dean Michele
  Ireland-Galman, Janis Dwyer, Teacher Prep.
  Program Coordinators, Pasadena City College
• Salvatore Rotella, President, Riverside Community
  College
• Irving Hendrick, Dean, School of Education,
  Riverside Community College

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Copernicus Project Letters of Support

• Piedad Robertson, President/Superintendent,
  Education/ECE Dept., Santa Monica College
• Edie Spain, Department Chair, Education/ECE
  Dept., Santa Monica College
• Dave Long, Superintendent, Riverside County
  Office of Education
• Linda Childress, Director, Teacher Support
  Center, Riverside County Office of Education
• David LaVelle, Deputy Superintendent,
  Corona-Norco USD
• Patricia Chandler, Assistant Superintendent,
  Moreno Valley USD
• Mauricio Arellano, Assistant Superintendent, Palm
  Springs USD
• Sue Rainey, Superintendent, Riverside USD
• Cindy Roth, President/Chief Executive Officer,
  Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce
• Thank you to all those partners and supporters
  who contributed to the creation, development
  implementation of the Copernicus Project!