Litchfield, CT, July 2006 - The Center for 21st Century Skills @ EDUCATION CONNECTION managed the CT Science Teacher Leadership Academy (CSTLA) Summer Institute that was held July 24-28th at Yale University in New Haven. Part of a 20 month project, the Academy is focused on improving teacher content knowledge in order to impact student achievement through the development of a teacher leadership program supported by the Math Science Partnership grant (MSP) from the State Department of Education and underwritten by Connecticut Career Choices (CCC). CSTLA serves to build a group of teacher leaders that will support science education in their respective districts through proven coaching and instructional strategies for teaching science.
The cohort of educators came together to assess and identify their needs. The results were used to establish a curriculum for the Summer Institute. Based on the progress made during the week-long workshop, the newly reinforced content is being developed into classroom instructional activities that will be shared with teachers back at their schools this fall. This material, hosted in an online web- based environment, is continually updated and actively used by students and teachers alike. Data will be collected to judge the impact of the developed content and leadership training on student achievement. The content will be evaluated by professors at Yale, Dr. Iona Black, and St Joseph’s Dr. Mark Johnson.
The Institute featured five speakers from Yale: Dr. Mark Saltzman, professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering; Dr. Donald Engelman, professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry; Dr. Thomas Pollard, M.D., professor of Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology, and Cell Biology; Dr. Ann Valentine, assistant professor of Inorganic & Biophysical Chemistry; and Dr. John Tully, professor of Physics and Applied Physics.
19 teachers from Newtown, Farmington, Hamden, Waterford, Danbury, Norwalk, Stamford, New Haven, and Bridgeport participated in the Summer Institute. Science chairs and administration in these districts are currently working together with the teachers to help provide support for the CSTLA agenda.
The participating educators enjoyed the Yale speakers and valued the interaction with teachers from all over the state. Said one teacher, “I think that every teacher, especially science and math [teachers], should experience this every few years throughout their careers.”