I have been an active member of the science committee for my school. The science chair often told me that my love for science was contagious at the meetings. I was bursting with ideas on ways to improve the science program throughout the district. I believe that in order to be productive, we have to work together as a team to build up the knowledge of our students, rather than blame the grade level before for not fully preparing the students.
We have begun to openly review the science curriculum as a whole, rather than just narrowing the focus of only knowing what standards we must teach. The high school teachers were not aware of the importance of the 1-8 achievement tests, because they just have to worry about getting their students to pass one graduation test in four years. The open communication has helped us to unite the science program across the district. I am glad to be a part of it.
I think you bring up a good point about working together as a team to build up the knowledge of your students instead of blaming the grade levels before for not fully preparing the students. I have always believed that education needs to be a team effort and pointing the finger of blame at anyone is not going to do any good. In the past, I have experienced some frustration with the lack of knowledge my students had when they entered my classroom. Blaming their previous year's teacher(s) is not going to effectively solve this problem. During professional development days at my school, we are often given time to conduct cross-grade level meetings. This gives our teachers an opportunity to become more familiar with the standards our students should be mastering at grade levels other than what they teach. Unfortunately, most of this time is specifically designated for improving our reading and math instruction. During the upcoming school year, I am hoping that we will receive extra time for holding these cross-grade level meetings for science as well.
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