Twenty Years of Classroom Transformation: How BSCS and Jefferson County Public Schools Built a Partnership That Lasts

At a Glance

District: Jefferson County Public Schools

Location: Louisville, Kentucky

Size:

• District-wide pilot and adoption of OpenSciEd Middle School, a high-quality program based on EdReports Review and pilot results
• BSCS Curriculum-Based Professional Learning (CBPL)

Results:

• Teachers reported improved confidence in leading student-centered, inquiry-based science instruction across all 30 middle schools
• Students at all performance levels, including English language learners, engaged in collaborative knowledge building and scientific reasoning, taking intellectual risks and constructing their own understanding

Challenges & Needs

• 
  Shifting from teacher-led to student-driven science instruction requires a fundamental change in classroom practice that takes time, support, and the right materials.
• 
  Teachers needed intensive, sustained professional learning to make that shift real in their classrooms, at a moment when the district had limited capacity to deliver it. 

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 deepened with a district leadership transition at the start of the school year. Brittany Thompson had participated in BSCS’s STeLLA professional learning as a classroom teacher, an experience she says changed her practice. She signed on as an instructional coach, excited to build on that foundation, then quickly found herself stepping into the K-12 Academic Specialist role, responsible for science education across 130 schools.

“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.”

The Solutions

• 
  Leveraged an existing 20-year partnership between BSCS and JCPS, built on trust and shared commitment to improving science education through prior district-level program implementation.
• 
  District-wide implementation of OpenSciEd Middle School Science, a comprehensive three-year science program developed by a BSCS-led consortium for three-dimensional, phenomenon-driven teaching and learning.
• 
  Flexible curriculum-based professional learning approach adapted to meet district challenges, with BSCS making adjustments to take advantage of teacher strengths and accommodate needs.

Brittany’s confidence came from two decades of working together. Since 2006, JCPS and BSCS have built a shared understanding of the district’s context, its teachers, and what meaningful change actually requires. That foundation included a GE grant-funded curriculum, the STeLLA professional learning program for high school biology teachers, and years of collaborative work with school and instructional leadership teams. 

In summer 2024, the district formally adopted OpenSciEd Middle School Science. When Brittany explained the challenges the district was facing, BSCS reworked the professional learning approach together by leaning on teacher strengths and cutting what wasn’t essential. To serve teachers at different stages, two pathways were offered: one for experienced OpenSciEd implementers, one for teachers encountering the curriculum for the first time. Teachers who had already been using the materials were eager for the experienced track, they’d seen firsthand how a learner’s lens made them better facilitators.

Throughout 2024, BSCS delivered 84 hours of professional learning across JCPS summer institutes followed by study groups throughout the year. Two hundred teachers participated in CBPL, with ongoing coaching providing classroom-level support so no teacher had to figure it out alone.

The Results

• 
  Teachers reported improved confidence in leading student-centered, inquiry-based science instruction.
• 
  Students across all performance levels, including multilingual learners, engaged in collaborative knowledge building and scientific reasoning.

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.

The clearest sign of what changed came from a classroom Brittany visited. Mariah Groton’s room, a middle school class with a high number of multilingual learners. Students were leaning over desks, debating predictions, and creating models of how heat moves through materials. They were making connections by drawing on what they’d learned about light reflection in an earlier unit.

In another school, Brittany walked into a light-and-matter unit where students had been given free rein to investigate. Students were explaining to her what they were trying to figure out. One student said: “I don’t have a model for this yet, but let me show you what I made in the last unit.”

Mariah’s growth extended beyond her own classroom. When Brittany was asked to identify teacher-leaders who could facilitate professional learning, Mariah was the first person she thought of. “I want to do the learner lens,” Mariah told her, “because it was so helpful for me.” 

By fall 2024, teachers across JCPS’s 30 middle schools reported growing confidence in facilitating student-led, inquiry-based science learning. Students were talking through real problems and working backward from evidence to figure out why things happen the way they do. 

For Brittany, the partnership with BSCS has been a constant, from the STeLLA program that first changed how she thought about teaching, to the collaboration that carried her through a district-wide implementation during one of the more demanding periods in her career.

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.