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OCR for page 158
Cupertino, California
A Small School District Builds a
Strong Corporate Partnership
The Cupertino Union School District serves students residing in a 26-
square-mile area of northern California that includes the City of Cuperti-
no and parts of Los Altos, San Jose, Santa Clara, Saratoga, and Sunny-
vale. The distr~ct's 19 elementary schools have an enrollment of 14,500
and a teaching staff of 523.
The major focus of the Cupertino Union School District has been on
curriculum selection, professional development, and building community
support. The district selected an inquiry-centered science curriculum and
instituted a comprehensive professional development program. Through a
strong partnership with Hewlett-Packard, both teachers and students have
benefited from the expertise of scientists.
In the summer of 1992, Marybar-
bara Zorio and her teammates came to the National Science Re-
sources Center's (NSRC) Elementary Science Leadership Institute
prepared to meet new challenges. 'We had the new California Sca-
ence Framework under one arm and blank newsprint paper under
the other," she recalls. Zorio herself hac! been named district sci-
ence resource teacher only two days earlier.
The Cupertino team was not starting from scratch. The clis-
trict had already initiated hands-on science in some of its elemen-
tary schools. It had a longstanding commitment to staff develops
meet. Equally important, the science program had strong backing
from a corporate partner, the Hewlett-Packarcl Company. Under
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Cupertino,
California
the Hewlett-Packarcl-Cupertino partnership, which began in 1987,
70 Hewlett-Packard mathematicians and scientists visited students
en cl teachers in two different schools every week. Hewlett-Packard
also offered science classes to Cupertino teachers and administra-
tors. And in 1992, Hewlett-Packard awarcled the district a three-year
grant that would provide $30,000 per year for the elementary sci-
ence program. The district decided to earmark these funds for staff
development.
Mark Butler, a Hewlett-Packard scientist ant! member of the
Leadership Institute team, recalls the enthusiasm shared by his
teammates early on. "It was a great kickoff for the whole program,"
he recalls. Even though Hewlett-Packard had been involvecl in sci-
ence education reform in Cupertino for many years, it was in the
team-building environment of the Institute that the members were
able to "bond" and the program gained momentum.
Taking Steps Toward Science Education Reform
At the Institute, Zorio, Butler, and their teammates drafted a three-
year plan for science education reform. "It wasn't written in ce-
ment. Sometimes we had to change course," Zorio admits, "but we
had a road along which we were moving." The plan had a dual
function: to meet local needs as well as the criteria set forth in the
newly issued California Framework.
A first step in the plan was to develop a system for introduc-
ing the key science content areas. Cupertino decided to focus first
on the physical sciences; life science and earth science would be
introduced in years 2 and 3, respectively. A second step was to se-
lect the curricula. The California Framework recommended five el-
ementary science programs, including the NSRC's Science and
Technology for Children (STC) program. The (listrict invited rep-
resentatives of these programs to make presentations concerning
their products. Selected modules were pilot-testecl in winter 1993.
Working as partners, two teachers a veteran science teacher and
a less-experienced, "science-shy" teacher taught each of the moc3-
ules under consideration for adoption. The experiences of the two
teachers combined, Zorio noted, gave the team the needed
"rounded perspective."
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Inquiry-Centered
Science
in Practice
Staff Development: "The Power
Has to Come from Within"
Staff development might be described as the linchpin of science
education reform in Cupertino. The district's staff development
plan, initiated well in advance of classroom implementation of
hands-on science, is centered on learning by example. Teachers
have the opportunity to experience the kinds of instruction they
are expected to provide to their students.
All of Cupertino's elementary school teachers had that expe-
riential opportunity on September 26, 1994, when Cupertino held
its first clistrictwide Science Learning Day. Teachers who had pilot-
tested the kits chosen for inclusion in the curriculum conclucte
walk-throughs of the materials for their colleagues who wouIcI be
presenting those modules in their classrooms in the fall. In all, 13
different kits in the physical sciences were presented. The event
was highly successful, ant! a second Science Learning Day was
scheduled for May 1995.
One reason for the success of this event is that the planners
tapped expertise among the teachers. "The power of staff development
has to come from within," Zorio comments. This approach has an
added acivantage: it is cost-effective. Teachers familiar with the kits can
replicate the sessions for their colleagues throughout the year at conve-
nient times, and they are close at hand for follow-up consultations.
John Erkman, director of instruction since 1993, maintains
that the approach being used in training teachers in science fits
well within the district's overall staff development model. 'We have
a commitment to make sure we give our teachers the best content
knowledge balanced with the opportunities for coaching, peer
support, reflection, and practice that have to be in place to make
the content integral to the classroom experience," he says.
Elementary science education reform, the Cupertino plan-
ners know, is much more than using kits and getting students in-
volved in hands-on activities. In Erkman's words, "It's bringing
questioning and discovery into the classroom. Our teachers must
shift from being the 'fountain of knowledge' into being people
who guide the students in finding information. If our teachers are
going to make that shift, we've got to do more than simply say, 'Go
ahead and do this."'
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Cupertino,
California
Mentor teacher Patti Holcomb, previously counted among
the "science-shy," attests to the impact of Cupertino's staff devel-
opment program and the paradigm shift to which Erkrnan refers.
"The focus of our training," she recalls, "was to make us more com-
fortable with our general knowledge of science. Part of this is re-
alizing that we clon't need to have all the answers. What we do need
to know is where to go to fins! them."
The Hewlett-Packard Partnership:
"More than Money Alone"
The financial support of the Hewlett-Packarc3 Company was in-
strumental in getting the Cupertino program off to a strong start,
and the district recently received a second Hewlett-Packard grant.
Nonetheless, in Zorio's words, it's been "more than money alone"
when it comes to the importance of Hewlett-Packarc! in helping
the district realize its science education goals.
For example, Hewlett-Packard consultants helped the district
design its materials center, where the science kits are stored. They
also set up classroom computers and are information resources for
HoIcomb and others. When a difficult question arises in a module
in STC's Magnets and Motors unit, Hoicomb's fifth-graders can
communicate on-line with Hewlett-Packard staff. Because of this
close collaboration with a technology-basec! company, says Hol-
comb, the students "don't feel like they're outside of science. They
like the feeling of being in the middle. rather than being on the
outside looking in."
When the corporate partnership began, Hewlett-Packard
gave Mark Butler full-time responsibility for serving as a liaison be-
tween the school system and the company. His job is to match
Hewlett-Packard resources with learning neecls. One of the most
productive matches has involved Chuck Morehouse, a Hewlett-
Packard physical scientist. As part of Cupertino's "Afternoon with
the Science Expert" program, Morehouse has met monthly with
fifth-grade teachers who are teaching Magnets and Motors. A second
physical scientist is slated to help out in a similar fashion with the
STC first-gracle module Solids and Liquids.
Morehouse is a central resource for all teachers. Under a new
program, Science Partners, that began in the 199195 academic
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Inquiry-Centered
Science
in Practice
year, Hewlett-Packard scientists volunteer to work with inclividual
teachers in their classrooms on a one-on-one basis. Eight Cuperti-
no schools were involvecl in Science Partners cluring its first year.
Following a successful pilot test, the project, Butler notes, will be
"rolled out" so that there will be at least three or four scientists in
each of the ctistrict's 19 elementary schools. Hewlett-Packarcl has
also introducer! the program in other school districts.
A Broadening Circle of Support
At the NSRC Leaclership Institute, the Cupertino team gained an
unclerstanding of the importance of community involvement.
Consequently, the district formed two community task forces. The
groups tackled important questions such as, What does the com-
munity value in science education? en cl What can we do to provide
that to students? Both groups have become solid acivocates for sci-
ence education reform- especially important resources in an era
of budget cutbacks.
Community scientists have also been drawn into the action;
for example, an environmental scientist from the City of Cuperti-
no recently visited a classroom to help students with a composting
activity. The partnership established with Hewlett-Packarc3 has thus
been complemented by a broadening community partnership in
Cupertino. Erkman sums it up like this: "Our teachers have multi-
ple layers of support from mentors, lead teachers, and commu-
nity scientists."
By building an effective corporate partnership and focusing
on staff clevelopment, Cupertino has developed a broad base of
support for its elementary science program. This has enabled the
school district to create an elementary science program that meets
exacting state stanclarcls, provides its students with challenging op-
portunities in science education, and boasts a cadre of enthusias-
tic, well-informed, and well-equipped teachers.
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Cupertino,
California
Creative corporate partnerships with school districts can provide
opportunities for engineers and scientists to become directly in-
volved in school science programs.
School districts can tap local expertise by giving their own experi-
enced staff responsibility for professional development. This in-
creases the probability that staff will be enthusiastic about the pro-
gram, and it is also cost-effective.
Community task forces can offer a rich source of input into plan-
ning efforts and broaden the base of support in the community.
~63
Representative terms from entire chapter:
elementary science
