Science educators across the region are finishing the fifth year of a partnership to ensure students are receiving the best education possible, and Washington Assessment of Student Learning scores show something is working.

The North Cascades and Olympic Science Partnership has paired Western Washington University and other education organizations with teachers from every school district in Whatcom and Skagit counties and 13 districts on the Olympic Peninsula.Through the partnership, which was funded through a five-year National Science Foundation grant, teacher leaders from each school have gone through rigorous training for three summers and changed the way they teach science to a more hands-on and questiondriven approach.

“It’s important to show that kids are learning, but adults here are trying to learn, too,” said Carolyn Landel, partnership project coordinator. “Few projects take on that side of things.”

The teacher leaders learned how to teach using an “inquiry” method, which incorporates student questions and data gathering to learn about a topic, rather than just reading a textbook, said Brian MacNevin, an eighthgrade Shuksan Middle School science teacher on special assignment this year.

“In most hands-on science, you have a demonstration lab where you do the lab, it’s fun, it’s usually very interesting, and then the second half of the period students take notes, then the teacher collects them … and gives a test on that stuff later on,” MacNevin said. “Now there is no notes, the notes are the lab and the students are having to record so much more of what they’re doing. … It’s a different level of engagement.”

WASL scores from the 2006- 07 school year show that at least some students are responding to the new methods.

At Nooksack Elementary School, fifth-grade students passing the science test jumped from 36 percent in the 2004-05 school year to 90 percent last school year. At Nooksack Valley Middle School, eighth-graders passing jumped from 36 percent to 73 percent. And at Larrabee Elementary, fifth-graders passing rose from 51 percent to 83 percent.

It’s not the goal of the partnership to teach to the WASL, but it is a good indicator of how the students are responding.

“Of course we want students to succeed on the WASL,” Landel said. “Our larger goal is to make sure all kids are learning good science, and we think if they’re learning that will show up in the WASL scores.”

One way the partnership is benefiting students is by connecting science teachers with experts, new curriculum materials and each other.

“I think any time you put the connection between the local school district and higher education, such as the Western program, you get an opportunity to connect to expertise that would not be available otherwise,” said Marion Evenson, principal of Nooksack Elementary.

Through NCOSP, six teachers are on special assignment, like MacNevin, and are available to help take professional development training to schools, connect teachers who are working on similar projects, and gather resources.

Plus, students who are studying to become science teachers at Western are now learning the new teaching methods, meaning they’ll graduate ready to jump into any local school.

Although the funding ends after this school year, educators are hoping to keep the partnership alive.

“The work in science will be sustainable and it won’t just go away when the (funded partnership) goes away,” said Cindy Tjoelker, the teacher leader for Nooksack Elementary. “We have a great foundation that we’re building from so that it’s not just a one-shot deal.”