High School Accountability:
Aligning the Mismatch
SCAS2 High School Breakout Session
October 3, 2006
What is the Mismatch?
- 4 years of standards
- 2 years required to graduate
- 3 years recommended by UC/CSU system
- Penalty for not taking 3 science exams
- Life science test in 10th grade
- Increasing percentage of middle and high school API
Strategies
What does your department offer to help prepare students to: become
scientifically literate citizens, satisfy graduation requirements, prepare for
the 10th grade life science test, satisfy UC/CSU entrance requirements, and
acquire 21st century skills?
Please take 5 minutes to discuss with partners and choose a couple out-ofthe-box strategies to report out.
Cutting-Edge Strategies
States and Science Graduation Requirements
California
www.ecs.org
The number of local control and 4-unit states are unchanged. 2-years is
decreasing. 3-units is increasing. California requires 2 units (years).
States and Science Graduation Requirements
2 years
3 years
4 years
*Data collected and prepared by Michael Horton on 9/21/06 from state
websites. Data is presumed accurate, but requirements are always
being updated.
Changes to 200 Penalty
• No more penalty in 10th grade
• 10th grade life science test is taken by all whether enrolled in science or not
• For any 9th or 11th grader penalized, the weight of the test is greatly reduced
“Using this loophole to rearrange science curriculum is dangerous and is just
as likely to reduce API as it is to increase API.” - Key Data Systems
Changes to 200 Penalty



College Preparatory students will continue to take 3 years of science
Non-CP students will only take 2 years of science
Non-CP classes contain far more underrepresented students than CP classes

The achievement gap will increase as a result

The number of physics and geology majors will be reduced by only 2 years of
high school science which will exacerbate the difficulty in finding physics and
earth science teachers
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Featured Non-Traditional Sequences
 Integrated First
 Physics First
 Earth Science First
Integrated in 9th Grade
Tood Ullah, Director of Science
Los Angeles Unified School District
What is Integrated Coordinated Science?
 High school science sequence of courses (ICS 1-4)
 Four sections: Earth Science, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology
 ICS 1 targets 9th grade students
 Emphasis is conceptual rather than mathematical, emphasizing widely applicable
inquiry-based pedagogy to develop widely applicable critical thinking skills
 Designed to increase student interest in science for all students
 Bridge that prepares students for biology, chemistry and physics
 Standards are selected from earth science, physics, chemistry, and biology
standards
 Part of the California Standards Testing Program
 Satisfies G requirement for CSU/UC eligibility
 “Only” requires a secondary science credential
 Taught in LAUSD for over a decade
The Integrated and Coordinated Science
Textbook Adoption
 Integrated Coordinated Science for the 21st Century, 2004, www.its-abouttime.com
 Research-based instructional program
 Fully-aligned to National Science Education Standards
 Four week independent units
 Pedagogy designed to highlight
 Science learning as an active process
 Student-directed scientific inquiry (Activity before Concept, Concept
before Vocabulary)
 Connections to prior knowledge
 Knowledge transfer
 Assessment of student understanding and misconceptions
 Congruent with language acquisition pedagogy
Level III – Core Institutes
Level
IIIreturning
- Science Lead
Teacher
Training
100
teachers
(cohort
1-6)
100 Teachers for 2 days per module
15-20 hrs (3 after school hours & 1 Saturday)
Conducted by Level I and II - ICS Leadership Team
Co-developed and
by University Partners
andco-facilitated
Science Educators
and ICS1 Leadership Team
University Partners
Earth Science
Expert
EarthComm
EarthComm
-Content
-Content
-pedagogical
- Facilitation
content
knowledge
Physics Expert
Active
Active Physics
Physics
-Content
-Content
-pedagogical
- Facilitation
content
knowledge
Chemistry
Expert
Biology
Expert
Active
Chemistry
Active Chemistry
Active
Active Biology
Biology
-Content
-Content
-pedagogical
- Facilitation
content
knowledge
-Content
-Content
-pedagogical
- Facilitation
content
knowledge
Participation in the ICS 1 Program:
Science Course Taking Among 9th Graders Changed in Recent Years
Distribution of Science Courses for 9th Graders, 2001 to 2005
50%
45%
40%
% of Students
35%
30%
No Science
ICS 1
25%
Biology
20%
Other
15%
10%
5%
0%
(Class of 2004)
2000-01
N=40,491
(Class of 2005)
2001-02
N=51,076
(Class of 2006)
2002-03
N=54,516
Source: 2005 California Student Testing and Reporting Data Files, CDE.
(Class of 2007)
2003-04
N=52,393
(Class of 2008)
2004-05
N=46,319
Participation in the ICS 1 Program:
What were the Main Science Course Pathways?
(follow students with at least two years of science from 2000/01 to 2003/04)
Five Most Popular Pathways (Class of 2004)
First Course
Second Course
Percent

Biology

Chemistry
31%

Biology

Adv. Physical Science
17%

ICS 1

ICS 2
14%

ICS 1

Biology
12%

Other “G” Course

Biology
9%
Student Performance: California STAR Testing
Program, California Standards Test:
LAUSD vs California
ICS 1, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Earth Science
40
40
17
15
16
16
17
2004
2005
2006
20
12
9
10
30
2003
20
21
22
23
23
21
21
9
15
17
13
11
20
15
15
18
18
19
30
2002
28
29
29
31
32
50
Percent of Students
50
2001
37
60
2006
31
28
27
2005
28
2004
30
32
2003
35
37
2002
2
10
7
6
8
9
2001
3
3
3
4
Percent of Students
60
Chart 8B California
California Standards Test, Science
Percent Scoring Proficient or Advanced
35
Chart 8A LAUSD
California Standards Test, Science
Percent Scoring Proficient or Advanced
0
0
ICS 1
Biology
Chemistry
Science CST
Physics
Earth Sci.
ICS 1
Biology
Chemistry
Science CST
Physics
Earth Sci.
Student Performance: Do 9th Graders Taking ICS 1 in 9th Grade
Perform better than Expected on Subsequent Science CSTs?
CST Science Results: Expected vs. Actual
Expected
Actual
Preliminary Results
350
340
0.8
2.8ab
330
329
332
332
333
-1.0
4.6ab
320
1.1
Scale Score
318
310
311
309
306
300
317
310
-1.7
296
290
294
280
270
260
250
Biology
(2004 CST )
Chemist ry
(2005 CST )
ICS 1 (2003 Class)
Biology
(2004 CST )
Chemist ry
(2005 CST )
Other Science (2003 Class)
Biology
(2004 CST )
Chemist ry
(2005 CST )
No Science (2003 Class)
Notes: Expected scale scores based on OLS regression model where the science scale score is dependent
on 9th grade ELA and Math CST scale scores. Analysis restricted to students who entered 9th grade in 2003
and took the Biology CST as a 10th grader in 2004 and the Chemistry CST as an 11th grader in 2005
(N=8,055).
a Statistically different from “no science” in 9th grade; Effect sizes of 0.15 and 0.24, respectively.
b Statistically different from “other science” in 9th grade; Effect sizes of 0.08 and 0.13, respectively.
Student Performance: What influence does the 9th Grade Science
Course have on Scores on the NCLB 10th Grade Science Test?
NCLB 10th Grade Science Test, 2006 Results, Expected vs. Actual
Expected
Actual
350
Preliminary Results
340
-1.4
330
329
1.8*
320
310
Scale Score
328
312
310
-1.6
300
297
290
295
280
270
260
250
ICS 1
Bi ol ogy
No Scie nce
Notes: Expected scale scores based on OLS regression model where the ICS 1 scale score is dependent on 9th
grade ELA and Math CST scale scores. Analysis restricted to students who were 9th graders in 2004-05 and 10th
graders in 2005-06 (N=34, 599).
*ICS 1 value-added is significantly greater than Biology and No Science groups.
Physics in 9th Grade
About 10 years ago, a reform movement began to switch physics to 9th grade.
There was no data supporting this idea, only anecdote.
Many schools and districts switched and did not collect any data to judge its effectiveness.
To this date, no formal study has been done to measure its effectiveness.
In 2001, Leon Lederman estimated that over 100 schools (60% private) had switched to
physics first nationally.
As of today, no data has been published showing its effect.
A website now lists 299 schools teaching physics first, certainly not a complete listing.
Physics in 9th Grade
I have collected data from California schools showing:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Physics first destroys physics test scores
Physics first hurts chemistry test scores
Physics first does not affect biology test scores
Physics first does not increase enrollment in higher physics classes
Analyzing the standards has also showed:
1) Physics standards are highest on Bloom’s Taxonomy
2) Very little chemistry and physics are needed to be proficient in the CA biology
standards
3) All of the chemistry and physics needed is in the middle school standards
4) Calculators are not even allowed on the physics test, this is not a mathematics issue
Still, over 13,000 9th graders took the physics CST last year.
Earth Science in 9th Grade
Sonia Regenfuss, Science Department Chair
Beckman High School,
Tustin Unified School District
Earth Science First
My position on Earth Science first:
Our district went to Earth Science for freshman as a means to cover all the standards and develop well rounded
students. A typical student would take Earth Science as a freshman, a life science as a Sophomore, chemistry as a
junior, and then physics as a senior.
Our upper end students take Biology Honors as freshmen, then chemistry honors, followed by Physics AP or
Biology AP or Chemistry AP or Environmental AP their Junior/Senior year.
Earth Science seems to be a milder transition for many students who face EL or RSP issues. The students can be
successful and develop their skills at the high school level. Earth science has some anchors like earthquakes or
hurricanes that students can relate to, where as, biology can be very abstract when you talk about processes you
can not see.
We face much of the same problems that many high schools do with jumping from middle school to high school
being such a large change. As teachers, we know the students learned specific standards at the middle school but
middle school is an odd age for many students. Once in high school the demands of the activities, sports and
academics are a balancing act. We have many honors students step back one year to then go on the take honors
biology their sophomore year.
Also in developing better citizens that will vote on issues in the future, Earth Science standards cover water issues,
global warming, energy, California resources, and also hazards such as hurricane Katrina. These are all topics that
are in the news that students should understand.
ES First Data
CST Earth Science Tustin School District, district API = 790, 36% SED, 31% ELL
9th
10th
11th
Students tested
1088
23
27
% of enrollment
66.7%
1.5%
2.2%
% advanced
10
4.0
11
% proficient
24
22
11
% basic
41
39
52
% below basic
17
22
22
% far below basic
7
13
4
CST Algebra I Tustin School District for comparison
9th
Students tested
1160
% advanced
7
% proficient
30
% basic
28
% below basic
24
% far below basic
10
Can Data Guide Us?
Michael Horton, Science Coordinator
Orange County Department of Education
Science Program’s Effect on NCLB Test
A higher percentage of 9th graders in biology shows a slight upward trend in 10th grade
CST life science test scores.
Science Program’s Effect on NCLB Test
A higher percentage of 10th graders in biology shows a slight upward trend in 10th grade
CST life science test scores.
Science Program’s Effect on NCLB Test
Integrated first
Physics first
A higher percentage of 11th graders in biology shows a downward trend in 10th grade
CST life science test scores.
Science Program’s Effect on NCLB Test
Summary
The data shows little difference between taking biology as a 9th grader or a 10th grader.
Those who took biology as an 11th grader scored much lower than these two groups.
Can Bloom’s Taxonomy Help?
If the content standards are analyzed as per which level of Bloom’s taxonomy they
address, the following pattern is found. Lower level is considered recall. High level is
anything above that.
Biology
Earth Science
Chemistry
Physics
Low-Level
54
36
41
24
High Level
12
10
30
24
% High Level
18%
22%
42%
50%
Contact Information
Dean Gilbert,
Michael Horton,
Sonia Regenfuss,
Todd Ullah,
gilbert_dean@lacoe.edu
mhorton@rcoe.us
sregenfuss@tustin.k12.ca.us
todd.ullah@lausd.net