Project Goals

1. Increase the number of highly effective middle and high school teachers serving high-needs students by engaging 1,500 teachers in Reading Apprenticeship professional learning and science/engineering Inquiry Design Groups.
2. Improve middle and high school students’ reading comprehension and science achievement by increasing opportunities to collaborate and engage with more varied and challenging science and engineering tasks and texts.
3. Build local capacity for sustained implementation and dissemination through teacher leader development, regional support, and new tools.

Outcomes

• 1,500 teachers will experience evidence-based professional learning and integrate literacy practices into their content area instruction, increasing the learning opportunities of more than 100,000 students.
• Open source text-inquiries with teacher guides for middle and high school science and engineering teachers will be created and widely disseminated.
• 380 teacher leaders and regional partners will increase their knowledge of disciplinary literacy and deepen local capacity to sustain instructional improvement.
• A randomized controlled trial will examine the impact of the professional learning on student learning and achievement in science/engineering.

Research Questions

The evaluation of the SETDI project will provide rigorous evidence regarding both the implementation of SETDI and its impacts on teacher effectiveness.

Impact Evaluation Questions

1. What is the impact of blended, cross-disciplinary professional learning on teacher practice?
2. What is the impact on students’ science literacy among middle and high school students?
3. What is the impact on students’ ELA achievement among middle and high school students?
4. What is the impact on students’ science achievement among middle and high school students?

Formative Evaluation Questions

1. To what extent do teachers participate in planned SETDI activities, such as face-to-face trainings, online PLCs, and school team meetings?
2. To what extent do teacher leaders participate in planned SETDI activities, such as regional network meetings, the online leadership course, PLCs, and school team meetings?
3. To what extent do teachers participating in SETDI implement Reading Apprenticeship practices with fidelity?
4. What factors are contributing to or hindering teachers’ preparation to implement effective literacy practices in their classrooms?
5. To what extent do participating science teachers demonstrate high quality of instruction?
6. What is the relationship between quality of instruction among science teachers participating in SETDI, fidelity of implementation of SETDI, and students’ academic outcomes?