NIH SciEd Blog

Science Report Links Teachers’ Research Experience to Students’ Achievement in Science

By: Bradie | October 16 2009 | Category: Issues in Education, Science News, Tidbits for Teachers

magazine has found that the proportion of high school students who passed a New York State Regents science exam was 10.1% higher if their science teachers had participated in the Columbia University Summer Research Program (CUSRP)

than if they hadn’t.

The researchers compared results from students in the same school whose teachers either had or hadn’t participated in the program. The overall increase was measured over a four-year period starting with the academic year before CUSRP participation.

In the first and second years after teachers entered CUSRP, 4.2% more students of participating teachers passed the Regents exam in science than students of nonparticipating teachers. In the third and fourth years after entering CUSRP, the proportion jumped to 10.1%.

The authors of the report -- Samuel C. Silverstein, Jay Dubner, Jon Miller, Sherry Glied, and John D. Loike -- are from New York City's Columbia University

and the International Center for Advancement of Scientific Literacy

in East Lansing, Michigan.

Silverstein, the study’s lead investigator, founded the Columbia program 20 years ago. He says that teachers who participate in CUSRP are retained in education and in classroom teaching in New York City public schools at a 3-to-4-fold higher rate than nonparticipating teachers. "This decrease in teacher attrition increases the stability of schools and reduces teacher recruitment costs,” he says.

Silverstein told Changing Courses that the program is cost-effective. "We estimate it returns $1.14 in immediate benefits to New York City's Department of Education and $10.27 in long-term benefits to society as a whole for every dollar its supporters invest in the program.”

Each teacher accepted into CUSRP is referred to a Columbia University faculty member who is willing to mentor the teacher and is working in an area of interest to the teacher.

The CUSRP teachers assemble one day a week each summer for professional development activities. These include seminars, visits to science museums, demonstrations of science teaching and teaching materials, training in data-driven instruction and in transferring science concepts and technologies in the classroom, and teacher-led research presentations.

Silverstein sees these results as a validation of CUSRP. He was among the scientist-statesmen who, 20 years ago, were concerned with the quality of science instruction in our nation’s high schools and its potential impact on both the recruitment of the next generation of scientists and the educa tion of a scient ifically literate electorate.

Silverstein says, "Even if we knew how to improve science teacher education, our nation could not train enough new science teachers in the next 15 to 20 years to improve the quality of U.S. secondary science education. Like it or not, unless we invest in elevating the performance of teachers presently in service, we will make little progress in elevating the quality of science education in our schools. The program we describe in Science this week engages universities, medical school faculties, and local colleges with the teachers from the schools in the surrounding communities.”

CUSRP works, it’s cost effective, and it can be replicated. These are the points Silverstein and his colleagues strive to make in this week’s report.

Question of the day: Can you see this program being started in your community?

Bradie Metheny

More Information

National Science Foundation interview with Samuel C. Silverstein