Pennsylvania: Science It's Elementary Year One ReportThe Science: It's Elementary (SIC) program was developed and overseen by the Pennsylvania Department of Education with the goal of improving student achievement by helping schools implement an inquiry-based, hands-on science education. In its first year, 1406 teachers in the state and approximately 37,000 students participated in the program and data were collected in order to analyze and provide critique. During the first year of this program many accomplishments were attributed to the program. Overall the courses were rated positively by teachers. During the three-day professional training period, the teachers were generally very enthusiastic and individuals who were at first skeptical of the program had positives views by the end of the training. The students who were taught under SIC showed improvements ranging from 0.61 to 1.03 standard deviations from the average student on assessment scales, indicating the program's effectiveness. Click here to view the full report |