OpenSciEd Developers Consortium for Middle School Science

OpenSciEd

The OpenSciEd initiative was launched by a consortium of funders led by the Carnegie Corporation of New York to address a critical need in science education: the need for high quality instructional materials that are standards-aligned and practical for broad implementation. In its first phase, OpenSciEd produced a comprehensive, three-year middle school science program.

OpenSciEd Developers Consortium

OpenSciEd instructional materials and accompanying resources for teacher professional development were created and field tested by a consortium of five nationally-recognized educational research and development organizations with the support of a broad network of leaders in science education.

The Consortium included BSCS Science Learning, Boston College, the Dana Center at The University of Texas-Austin, Digital Promise Global, and Northwestern University. These organizations and a network of expert individuals collaborated on all areas of work, under the direction of a steering committee made of educational leaders from ten OpenSciEd partner states.

BSCS was responsible for the leadership and coordination of the Consortium, whose work was organized across specialized centers.

Work of Consortium

The Consortium’s goal was to create high quality instructional materials that are designed for next generation science and practical for teachers to implement in a diverse range of classroom contexts nationwide.

As a first step toward this goal, The Consortium created program design specifications and a three-year scope and sequence. These foundational documents helped guide the Consortium in developing the full middle school science program—which includes student materials, teacher guides, and resources for teacher professional development including classroom videos. The resulting program implements the entire set of NGSS for grades 6-8 and meets the review criteria for Achieve’s EQuIP rubric.

This was a highly collaborative project, and the Consortium was committed to working closely with classroom teachers, specialists, and education leaders in the design and implementation of all materials. Each unit underwent an 18-month development process that included professional learning, robust field tests, revisions, and external reviews.

Professional Learning

The Consortium has designed professional learning around goals to promote the shifts in science standards. Teachers learn how to support productive science discussions and coherence in student learning, for example, as they navigate effective OpenSciEd unit instruction. After internally designing and delivering professional learning institutes for the first sets of units, the Consortium prepared science education leaders across the ten partner states to facilitate institutes moving forward.

Robust Field Tests

The Consortium field tested all units, measuring success through both student and teacher surveys. For example, do students feel they are able to contribute their own ideas? Are teachers able to use their students’ questions to drive learning? This survey data, which was largely positive across the ten partner states, informed unit revisions and the focus of future professional learning institutes. Hundreds of teachers and thousands of students across all ten partner states participated in the field testing process.

Revisions and External Reviews

The Consortium revised all units based on data from the field test and external reviews, including an EQuIP review by Achieve.

The first three units were released in August 2019, with three additional units released every six months thereafter. The complete middle school program was completed and released in 2022. As of February 2023, the program has earned “All-green” ratings from EdReports.