Piloting High Quality Instructional Materials in Secondary Science to Foster Instructional Improvements

Tomorrow's domestic STEM workforce demands that students bring the ability to explain real-world phenomena and solve problems collaboratively. In many school districts, a significant gap persists between this ambitious vision and the realities of current instruction. One promising approach to bridge this gap is the use of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM), which have been shown to improve science teaching and learning. However, school systems often face serious challenges in selecting, adopting, and implementing these materials in ways that lead to consistent implementation across classrooms and lasting change. This project will establish a research-practice partnership between the University of Colorado Boulder and the Weld RE-4 School District in Colorado to better understand and address these challenges. The project will generate new understandings that support the translation of research on how curriculum can improve teaching and learning into practice for a whole school district, and yield insights into how school districts navigate organizational dynamics and competing priorities during curriculum adoption. The project will also result in a practical toolkit to guide other districts through similar efforts. This work supports NSF's mission by strengthening the foundational infrastructure of science education in ways that prepare students with the knowledge and skills necessary for future innovation, economic competitiveness, and flourishing. By improving the quality and consistency of science instruction across school systems, the project contributes to building a robust, future-ready STEM workforce.

Through a research-practice partnership between the University of Colorado Boulder and the Weld RE-4 School District, this project will develop and investigate a novel methodological approach--improvement-oriented curriculum adoption--designed to help school systems implement HQIM in ways that are context-sensitive and improvement-driven. This process aims to help district leaders allocate resources strategically, build teacher capacity, and sustain the use of HQIM over time through continuous improvement cycles. Anchored in improvement science, this design-based research will unfold through iterative cycles of testing, feedback, and adaptation as the district pilots, selects, and scales new instructional materials in secondary science. The project is intended to: advance understanding of the organizational dynamics and tensions districts must navigate when adopting HQIM; contribute practical tools and processes that can guide other systems through similar transformations; and mobilize knowledge by producing and disseminating a publicly available implementation toolkit to support future district-led or researcher-supported efforts. The partnership work will include regular meetings with district leadership to identify and leverage resources available and needed to support a curriculum pilot as well as district goals for the pilot to guide data collection. Pilot data will be analyzed and interpreted in collaboration with the district to inform the district-wide roll out of the curriculum. By enabling more effective curriculum decisions at the district level, it strengthens the infrastructure needed to prepare students with the scientific knowledge and practices required to thrive in a rapidly changing, innovation-driven economy. The HQIM that this project helps districts adopt reflect extensive prior NSF investment in learning sciences, inclusive pedagogy, and cutting-edge science content. As such, increasing their effective use is itself a key mechanism for realizing the broader impact of that research.