Science Achievement and Student Diversity Okhee Lee School of Education University of Miami National Science Foundation (Grant No. REC )

Purpose During the school years, we implemented an instructional intervention aimed at promoting both science and literacy achievement among culturally and linguistically diverse elementary students. We examined the impact of the intervention’s three- year implementation on science achievement of 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students during the 2001 through 2004 school years.

Research Questions 1.How did students perform overall in science? 2.How did the performance differ (i.e., achievement gaps) among demographic subgroups in terms of ethnicity, home language, English language proficiency, socioeconomic status, exceptional student education, and gender? 3.How did students’ performance on NAEP/TIMSS items compare with the performance of national and international samples of students?

Conceptual Frameworks: Instructional Congruence

Teacher-Explicit to Student- Exploratory Continuum This notion takes into account students’ cultural backgrounds as well as previous science experiences. Along the continuum, teachers should consciously maintain a balance between teacher guidance and student initiative. Teachers move progressively from more explicit to more student-centered instruction, gradually reducing assistance while encouraging students to take the initiative, explore on their own, and assume responsibility for their own learning.

Research Setting School% Ethnicity% LEP% Low SES A41 Haitian 28 African-American 25 Hispanic 4695 B37 Haitian 53 African-American 2299 C94 Hispanic4581 D89 Hispanic1550 E55% White 25% Hispanic 16% African-American 420 F32% White 33% Hispanic 34% Black 321

Teachers and Students Teachers2001 – – – 2004 Grade 3Teacher Cohort 1 22 teachers (out of 28 teachers) 647 students Teacher Cohort 1 22 teachers (out of 27 teachers) 547 students Grade 4Teacher Cohort 2 22 teachers (out of 25 teachers) 626 students Teacher Cohort 2 22 teachers (out of 26 teachers) 688 students Grade 5Teacher Cohort 3 12 teachers (out of 23 teachers) 385 students Teacher Cohort 3 12 teachers (out of 20 teachers) 431 students

Instructional Intervention: Instructional Units Grade 3: Measurement, States of Matter Grade 4: Water Cycle, Weather Grade 5: Ecosystems, Earth/Space Science

Teacher Workshops Teachers attended four full-day workshops on regular school days over the course of each year (a total of eight days over the two-year period). The workshops focused on how to implement the instructional units in classroom practices. During the first year, the emphasis was on presenting key issues in the three domains of the intervention, so that teachers would become aware of the issues and reflect on their beliefs and practices (more conceptually oriented). The second-year workshops started with reporting students’ assessment results from the previous year and soliciting teachers’ feedback. Then, the workshops engaged teachers to share their experiences of teaching the instructional units and reassess their beliefs and practices (more practice oriented).

Classroom Instruction Classroom science instruction took place on average two hours a week. Teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and practices varied among science, English language and literacy, and students’ home language and culture.

Results Overall Achievement Gains: Significance tests of mean scores between pre- and posttests each year indicated statistically significant increases on all measures of science at all three grade levels across all three years. Achievement Gaps: Gaps tended to narrow among fourth grade students and tended to remain consistent among third and fifth grade students. Comparison with NAEP/TIMSS Samples: Item- by-item comparisons with NAEP and TIMSS samples indicated overall positive performance by students who participated in the research at the end of each school year.

Overall Achievement Gains GroupDomainYearPrePostzCohen’s d (effect size) dª (magnitude) Grade 3: Teacher Cohort 1 Unit TestYear large Year large NAEP/ TIMSS Test Year large Year large Grade 4: Teacher Cohort 2 Unit TestYear large Year large NAEP/ TIMSS Test Year large Year large Grade 5: Teacher Cohort 3 Unit TestYear large Year large NAEP/ TIMSS Test Year medium Year medium ª d >.20 is “small” effect size; d >.50 is “medium”; and d >.80 is “large.”