Missouri-Iowa Science Cooperative (Science Co-op)

James A Shymansky,Larry D Yore,Leonard A Annetta,Susan A Everett

doi:10.35608/ruraled.v29i2.466

Abstract

There is a dearth of studies in science education that are both comprehensive and focused on rural schools. Thus, this brief is in the form of a research report on the impact of an externally funded, five-year professional development project. The project involved approximately 1500 teachers on the student achievement of approximately 20,000 K-6 students in 36 small, rural Midwest school districts. - Larry G. Enochs, Research Column Editor

Highlights

Pressure on schools to address waning student interest and poor achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has continued unabated since the publication of A Nation at Risk (1983), Science for All Americans and Benchmarks for Science Literacy (American Association for the Advancement of Science [AAAS], 1989, 1993), and the National Science Education Standards (NSES, National Research Council [NRC], 1996)
These mounting concerns led in part to the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB, 2002), which requires the annual assessment of students’ performance in language arts, mathematics, and science
Random samples of professional development (PD) activities (5 to 8 per year) were observed across the project’s term using HRI scales for the individual categories; capsule ratings indicated that these activities were judged to be high quality, rated as accomplished effective PD to exemplar PD

Summary

Rural Research Brief

There is a dearth of studies in science education that are both comprehensive and focused on rural schools. This brief is in the form of a research report on the impact of an externally funded, five-year professional development project. The project involved approximately 1500 teachers on the student achievement of approximately 20,000 K-6 students in 36 small, rural Midwest school districts. Missouri-Iowa Science Cooperative (Science Co-op): Rural Schools-Urban Universities Collaborative Project

Introduction

Data Collection and Analysis

Results

Closing Remarks