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A decade ago, California schools introduced a new K-12 science curriculum that was hands-on, interactive and designed to prepare students for the challenges of the 21st century. 

But since the state started testing students on the new Next Generation Science Standards in 2019, the first time ever California assessed students in science, test scores have barely budged, with stark gaps among some groups of students.

鈥淚n large part, science has not been viewed as a priority. It鈥檚 been moved to the back burner,鈥� said Jessica Sawko, education director at the research and advocacy organization Children Now, and former head of the state鈥檚 association of science teachers. 鈥淏ut science needs to be a priority. How will we prepare our kids to make sense of the world around them?鈥�

In 2019, three years after most schools began teaching the new science curriculum, only 30% of students met the standard on the state exam. Last year, the number had inched up to only 30.7%.

Wide gaps exist among student groups. Among students whose parents graduated from college, 42% met the standard, compared to 17% of those whose parents never went beyond high school. Fewer than than 21% of low-income students met the standard. Only 15% of Black students met the standard, compared to 61% of Asian students.

Delays and obstacles

There鈥檚 a few reasons for the stagnant scores, experts said. Pandemic school closures set achievement back significantly for all subjects, but it especially affected science because so much of the new science curriculum centers on hands-on projects, which were nearly impossible to conduct over Zoom.

And after the pandemic, schools focused their recovery efforts on literacy, math and attendance, the most glaring challenges as students returned to in-person learning. Chronic absenteeism, for example, soared from 10% pre-pandemic to 30% in 2022. 

Another reason for the low science scores is accountability, Sawko and others said. For the first few years of the new science test, the scores were not posted on the state鈥檚 鈥� the primary means of publicizing students鈥� academic performance. The rationale is that the test was new and the state was still working out the kinks.

Last year, the results were posted at the bottom of the Dashboard in an area marked 鈥渋nformational purposes.鈥� Unlike the other features of the dashboard, such as math and English language arts scores, science was not color coded to indicate the performance level of individual schools or student groups. The science results were solid gray.

When the new scores are released this fall, science will be color-coded on the Dashboard, but science still falls short of full accountability, advocates said. Low-performing schools won鈥檛 be singled out by the state for extra assistance, although that might change next year.

Another obstacle has been teacher training. After California adopted the new standards, it didn鈥檛 invest any money in professional development until 2023. For many years, districts used their own funds or found private grants to pay for teacher training, but by fall 2020 at least 30%-40% of teachers had received no training in the new standards, according to a by the California Association of Science Educators. Teachers at low-income and rural schools received the least training.

In 2023 the state allotted $85 million to improve math, science and computer science education, but only about $1.5 million went to train teachers in science. The rest went to train teachers in math and computer science 鈥� which also recently got new standards 鈥� and to host family STEM nights and other activities. The money went to county offices of education to distribute locally. 

The grant expires in 2027, and it鈥檚 crucial that the state continue that investment, said Shari Staub, co-leader of the California Math, Science and Computer Science Partnership.

鈥淲e are daily faced with public health challenges, climate challenges, equity challenges 鈥� all the things a scientifically literate population should be able to address, not just for California but for the world,鈥� Staub said. 鈥淚f we鈥檙e not investing in science, we are not preparing students for the world they are entering.鈥�

Three-dimensional learning

The Next Generation Science Standards were created in 2011 by an education nonprofit called Achieve, with help from 26 states and dozens of science education experts. The idea was to make science more engaging and 鈥渢hree-dimensional,鈥� as the authors put it, by combining concepts from multiple scientific disciplines so students could discover patterns and systems. Students would gain critical thinking skills and a solid understanding of scientific concepts, largely by doing hands-on projects rather than listening to lectures.

Many school districts in California have embraced the new standards and seen scores improve. In fact, California public schools 鈥� particularly those in tech hubs 鈥� have some of the top science programs in the country. California students routinely win the National Science Bowl, Science Olympiad and other national competitions. 

For the most part, those districts invested their own funds early in the rollout to train their teachers. And they have strong support from parents, financial and otherwise. That amounts to PTA funds that teachers can use to pay for science field trips or extra help in the classroom, plenty of parent volunteers and an overall expectation that science education is a priority. 

None of the top-performing schools were Title I low-income schools, but they weren鈥檛 all homogenous affluent schools, either. Some had 25% or more low-income students, large percentages of English learners and diverse student populations. They might have PTA support, but they don鈥檛 receive much extra money from the state because they don鈥檛 have large numbers of high-needs students.

La Ca帽ada Unified near Pasadena, for example, received only $13,700 per student last year from the state, about $5,000 less than the state average. But more than 77% of students met or exceeded the science standards last year, some of the highest scores in the state. 

Each elementary school in the district has a science lab and an aide to assist with science projects. A summer camp called 鈥淪TEM-nauts鈥� pairs older students with younger ones for science-themed games and experiments. The high school offers five Advanced Placement science classes and a host of science-related extracurricular activities, including an astronomy club, neuroscience club and chemistry club. Students can do internships at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is a quarter-mile from the high school.

鈥淚n our district, the science kids are the cool kids,鈥� said James Cartnal, assistant superintendent. 鈥淪cience is part of the culture here. We work intentionally and very hard to make it that way.鈥�

鈥楾hink like scientists鈥�

At Lawson Middle School in Cupertino, science is nearly everyone鈥檚 favorite subject. The science classrooms are boisterous places with students conducting experiments and trying to figure out solutions. The shelves are well stocked with beakers, scales and microscopes. Colorful tapestries of the periodic table hang from the ceiling. Anime renditions of the elements 鈥� including xenon, helium, germanium, cadmium 鈥� adorn the walls.

One recent afternoon, students in Emily Adams鈥� eighth grade science class did a lesson on measurements. Adams started by asking them why accurate measurements are important. Their answers: so astronauts know how much fuel is left in their rocketship; so truck drivers know if their vehicle will fit under an overpass; and so doctors know how much medicine they鈥檙e giving a patient.

Then they worked in groups to measure various objects, using an infrared thermometer, an electronic scale and other tools.

鈥淭his class is fun. I like all the labs, figuring out how things work in the real world,鈥� said student Neil Dhaman. 鈥淧.E. is my favorite class, but this is second.鈥�

Adams said the class was typical, in that she spends about 10 minutes explaining a few main concepts and the students spend the rest of the class on projects related to the concepts. 鈥淚 want them to focus on skills and critical thinking, not just regurgitate facts,鈥� Adams said. 鈥淚 want them to think like scientists.鈥�

Cupertino is in the heart of Silicon Valley, home to the Apple computer headquarters and dozens of tech start-ups. Google and Facebook are a few miles away. Despite the lure of six-figure salaries in Silicon Valley, Cupertino Union School District has very little turnover among science teachers, a key reason the science scores are so high, said Marie Crawford, the district鈥檚 director of instructional leadership and intervention. 

鈥淭he teachers know each other, work together, help each other out,鈥� Crawford said. 鈥淚t makes a big difference.鈥�

Like La Ca帽ada, Cupertino Union School District does not receive a lot of money from the state. Last year, the state provided $16,400 per student, far below the state average.

In teacher Maryhien Pham鈥檚 class, eighth grader Aanya Dhar and her classmates demonstrated how to find the mass of a marble by dropping it into a cylinder of water, and weighing the cylinder before and after. The answer: 3 milliliters. 

鈥淚 might want to be a scientist when I grow up,鈥� Dhar said. 鈥淚 like learning about new things, experimenting, getting to know how things work.鈥�

This article was and was republished under the license.

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