Impact of the Understanding Science Professional Development Model on Science Achievement of English Language Learner Students
Data collection approach
Outcomes are measured for treatment- and control-group teachers, students, and classrooms through data collected during both the 2008/09 and 2009/10 school years. Teacher pre- and post-course outcome measures—teacher surveys and science content tests—are administered in the spring before and the winter after completing the professional development course. All participating teachers complete a precourse survey in the spring before the intervention and a postcourse survey in the winter following it.
Outcomes are also measured for students in two physical science classes per teacher, about a third of which the researchers predict are English language learner students. All students receive a science content pretest on force and motion in fall 2009 and a posttest within two weeks of receiving classroom instruction on force and motion sometime in the fall 2009 semester. Students' scores on standardized science achievement tests are obtained at the end of the academic year in which the experiment is conducted (spring 2010). Both the total scores and the subscores on the physical science cluster will be analyzed. These test score data are available only for the sites in California, or for an estimated 100 teachers. Assuming 50 teachers per condition, statistical power should be adequate to estimate program impacts on student outcomes using the California subsample.