The Long Game: How Jefferson County Public Schools and BSCS Keep Raising the Bar for Science Education

At a Glance

Beginning in fall 2021, JCPS offered teacher leaders the option to pilot OpenSciEd Middle School, a new open-source science curriculum developed by a consortium of science educators and researchers led by BSCS. Many schools opted in, but the timing was challenging. Schools were just emerging from COVID-19, with teachers and students exhausted from months of online learning and morale at a low point.

The challenge was multiplied with a district leadership transition at the start of the school year. Brittany Thompson, K-12 Academic Specialist for Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, Kentucky had signed on as an instructional coach, excited to leverage her prior work with BSCS. She suddenly found herself stepping into the role of Academic Specialist, responsible for science education across 130 schools. Many schools had opted in to pilot OpenSciEd, but implementing a new curriculum required significant shifts in teaching practice.

“Luckily, BSCS and I go way back. Our work together has changed my life. I always have complete confidence that BSCS’s programs will meet our district’s goals. And I knew I could count on the PL team to adjust and adapt the OpenSciEd professional learning as needed given the challenges we were facing.”

“This was a very challenging time to engage teachers in professional learning…and support them in considering shifts in their practice,” Brittany recalls. “Luckily, BSCS and I go way back. Our work together has changed my life. I always have complete confidence that BSCS’s programs will meet our district’s goals. And I knew I could count on the PL team to adjust and adapt the OpenSciEd professional learning as needed given the challenges we were facing.”

Brittany’s confidence came from years of partnership between JCPS and BSCS. With a concerted effort beginning in 2006, JCPS has demonstrated a sustained commitment to strengthening science education, collaborating closely with secondary schools and instructional leadership teams to build internal capacity. These long-term efforts included implementing a GE grant-funded curriculum and utilizing professional learning programs like the STeLLA (Science Teachers Learning from Lesson Analysis) Program for high school biology teachers and leaders. 

In summer 2024, the district formally adopted OpenSciEd Middle School Science. When Brittany explained the challenges the district was facing, an adapted OpenSciEd professional learning approach was developed to meet teachers where they were. The BSCS team made adjustments to accommodate exhausted teachers, modified pacing to reflect the unstable conditions, and provided additional support where needed. The program was designed to support two groups of teachers: those who had been part of BSCS’s 3-year CBPL program and were experienced implementers, and those who were less experienced and had limited to no prior interactions with BSCS.

This flexibility was possible because of the trust built over 20 years of partnership. BSCS and JCPS weren’t starting from scratch. They had a foundation of mutual understanding, shared goals, and tested collaboration. BSCS supported this district-wide implementation with 84 hours of professional learning in JCPS throughout 2024 through summer teacher institutes and follow-up study groups throughout the year. Two hundred teachers participated in CBPL, building their capacity to lead student-centered learning. Additionally, to support the unique needs of each classroom, a coaching program was established, providing continuous support to middle school teachers.

By fall 2024, JCPS’s 30 middle school science classrooms were alive with curiosity and discussion. Over 21,000 students were exploring real-world phenomena and making sense of science on their own terms. Teachers felt confident leading student-centered learning.

Brittany observed a middle school science classroom with a large number of multilingual learners that was rich with discussion as students leaned over desks to share ideas, debate predictions, and create models explaining how heat moves through materials.

Students drew on what they’d learned about the reflection of light in earlier lessons, thinking critically and making connections for themselves. In this middle school classroom, it was more than a lesson on thermal energy. It was a space of collaboration and discovery ignited by teachers equipped with CBPL and high-quality curriculum. Across JCPS, middle school science classrooms were changing in similar ways.

Teachers reported that students across all performance levels were taking intellectual risks, sharing ideas, and building knowledge together. The shift from teacher-centered instruction to student-driven investigation had created classrooms where all students could contribute and learn.

For Brittany, the successful district-wide implementation demonstrated the value of the long-standing BSCS partnership. Taking on responsibility for science across 130 schools during a challenging period would have been overwhelming without trusted partners who understood both the district’s context and how to support meaningful change.

Resources and References

OpenSciEd Middle School Science earned “All-green” ratings from EdReports in February 2023, independently validating the quality and usability of the materials teachers were experiencing firsthand.

At a Glance

Challenges

• Traditional curriculum centered on memorizing isolated facts and providing “correct” answers, leaving little room for real-world application or the kind of scientific thinking that makes learning meaningful.
• Teachers were filling gaps without external resources. With a program that was built in-house, teachers spent extra time developing their own labs and lessons.
• Adjustments were needed to implement the NGSS-based BSCS curriculum. Existing materials were aligned to Texas content standards (TEKS), but not designed from the ground up to support the new three-dimensional, phenomenon-driven teaching and learning the new TEKS called for.
• Teachers were in need of curriculum-based professional learning to support student-driven inquiry.
• Post-COVID, collaborative classroom culture was difficult to rebuild. The student-centered learning environment that makes science come alive felt increasingly out of reach for both teachers and students.

Justyne Biddle has been teaching life science at Leander ISD for 28 years. Throughout her career, she’s navigated curriculum changes and new state standards. But lately, something felt different.

“I’ve always been good at interacting with kids, laughing and storytelling. But since COVID, getting them to buy in and laugh has been a challenge.” Justyne recalls. “I thought, maybe I’m done.”

She’s not alone. Science teachers across the country are navigating how to engage their students in meaningful ways while implementing robust standards and preparing for standardized testing. For Justyne, the collaborative student-centered classroom culture that had characterized Justyne’s teaching for nearly three decades felt increasingly difficult to establish.

Leander’s existing science curriculum was rich in information but offered few avenues for students to apply thinking to real-world scenarios. This was particularly true for multilingual learners, who benefit most when provided with more interactive, contextualized ways to join the conversation. Although Leander’s educators were ready to embrace a more investigative and social style of learning, the available resources and professional development hadn’t yet caught up to that vision.

A New Approach to Biology

Leander ISD adopted BSCS Biology: Understanding for Life, a comprehensive biology curriculum designed for the Framework for K12 Science Education and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Unlike materials that have been aligned post creation, BSCS Biology was designed from the ground up, built around three-dimensional learning and phenomenon-driven instruction, reflecting decades of research in science teaching and learning. The curriculum engages high school students in problem-solving, critical-thinking and prepares them for life in our complex, interconnected world.

The curriculum includes four units, each centered around societal challenges important to students, their families, and communities. The program introduces BSCS’s Anchored Inquiry Learning instructional model which focuses on collaborative learning through investigations, providing students increased accountability for self-learning and group work. Students build models, have small group discussions, ask questions, analyze real data, and discover the answer to the “why do I need to know this?” question without having to ask.

Unit 2 covers hereditary-genetic disease and asks students Why are some people at higher risk for heart disease than other people? Anna Wydeven, Senior Secondary Science Curriculum Coordinator at Leander ISD, describes a classroom alive with discussion.

“In the classroom, I frequently see students waving their hands, eager to contribute. During the heart disease unit, I saw kids in peer-led groups discussing three levels of health risk. In one group, several boys waited for their student leader to call on them so they could share their ideas. One student in particular took the lesson to heart, linking the health risks to his own family. He used new science words confidently to talk about this serious topic in a safe environment. The level of conversation was remarkably high—it’s amazing to see how much students can do when a curriculum is truly designed to engage teenage minds.”

Justyne adds that this unit becomes real and personal for her students, especially those with family members who have experienced heart attacks, deepening their understanding about genetics and environmental factors.

Professional Learning Makes the Difference

BSCS Biology: Understanding for Life is challenging because it is a new type of program, designed to give students a sense of agency to engage in, figure out, and apply science in meaningful ways beyond the classroom. This requires a non-traditional teaching approach.

Justyne describes the move toward formal storylines as a significant shift in her professional practice. Having spent years crafting her own narratives in existing materials, she initially found it difficult to trust a process she hadn’t authored. “BSCS professional learning puts everything together. It’s been a hard transition. Different pieces I saw in isolation and hadn’t figured out how to meld it all together. Since I wasn’t writing the storyline, I didn’t know where we were going until we were done. Then it all made so much sense.”

Leander ISD supported teachers with 35 hours of CBPL. BSCS designed Leander’sprofessional learning program specifically for BSCS Biology: Understanding for Life instructional materials. This matters because even high-quality instructional materials designed for NGSS ask teachers to teach in ways most have not experienced. CBPL makes the shift to student-centered teaching and learning possible by developing an understanding of the Anchored Inquiry Learning instructional model and instructional materials. As teachers dive deeply into the program, their own pedagogical and content knowledge deepens. Teachers are ready to completely change what biology teaching and learning looks like in their classrooms. Justyne walked away feeling excited, confident, and prepared for the year ahead.

District leader, Anna Wydeven, agrees the difference professional learning made for her teachers in Leander was significant. “I’m so glad we used our funding to purchase PL to support the curriculum. The curriculum is powerful, but teachers, my team, and I really needed the CBPL in order to understand deeply how to implement it the way it is meant to be implemented, and to make the program sustainable in the long term. Those two things together are what make the program so powerful.”

Transformation in Action

Students engaged from the first day of implementation, with teachers observing students across all performance levels taking risks, sharing ideas, and building knowledge together.

District leaders reported growth not just in science knowledge, but in academic growth and confidence for all students including emerging multilingual learners.

Leander ISD students demonstrated strong performance on the 2025 Biology STAAR exam, outpacing state averages by as much as 18% across all achievement levels. Notably, the Texas Biology STAAR End of Course Exam results reflect not just test preparation but instructional transformation:

• 96% achieved Approaches Grade Level (vs. 91% statewide)
• 80% achieved Meets or Better Grade Level (vs. 62% statewide)
• 33% achieved Masters Grade Level (vs. 21% statewide)

2025 Biology STARR Results	Statewide	Leander ISD	Outperformance
Approaches Grade Level	91%	96%	+5%
Meets or Better Grade Level	62%	80%	+18%
Masters Grade Level	21%	33%	+12%

From the first day of implementation, Justyne saw the difference. Students across all performance levels were taking risks, sharing ideas, and building knowledge together. For emerging multilingual learners, the specifically integrated supports made a crucial difference. These students produced outstanding written work and participated fully in investigations.

Justyne reflects on the classroom transformation, “It’s also made the kids connect with each other again. There’s always been the class where no one ever talks. When I’d ask why, they’d say, ‘I don’t want to be wrong.’ Now, it’s not about giving them the answers, it’s about sharing what they’re thinking. And then saying, ‘Great thought, let’s build on that.’ Very few kids want to hide now. They’re making friends with each other and getting outside of their networks.”

Anna Wydeven shares similar observations, “We’re seeing growth not just in science knowledge, but in confidence for all student groups, including emerging multilingual learners.”

Parents noticed too. “Parents are even thanking me for challenging their kids,” Justyne shares. “They know real life is full of complex problems, and this program is preparing them for it.”

For Justyne personally, the impact was profound. “This program got me back in the game,” Justyne says. “It’s so relevant to kids’ lives. My students are constantly making connections between what they see in the world and what we’re learning in class. Kids were not trying to get answers on their cell phones. They weren’t getting on their laptops. They weren’t doing any of that. They were talking to each other. They were talking to me. I thought, “this feels good.”

Looking Forward

For Justyne, BSCS Biology represented more than a curriculum change, it renewed her sense of purpose. The teacher who had questioned whether to continue teaching found herself energized by a program that equips students with abilities and inclinations to act on what they’ve learned well beyond high school biology class and into their future personal, professional, and civic lives.

“After 28 years of teaching, this program showed me what’s possible,” Justyne reflects. “BSCS Biology changed how my students learn and use science. That’s worth staying in the game for.”

Resources and References

• BSCS Understanding for Life: https://bscs.org/educator_resource/bscs-biology-understanding-for-life/
• https://bscs.org/programs-services/professional-learning-for-bscs-biology-understanding-for-life/
• https://bscs.org/about/anchored-inquiry-learning/