History and Development of the Urban Advantage Program

• In Event: Can Formal-Informal Collaborations Improve Science Literacy in Urban Middle Schools? The Development, History, and Impact of the Urban Advantage Middle School Science Initiative

Abstract

Urban Advantage (UA) is a partnership program designed to improve students’ understanding of scientific inquiry through collaborations between urban public school systems and informal science education institutions such as museums, zoos, gardens, and science centers. This paper will highlight the history and development of UA. Formally launched in the 2004-05 school year, UA currently serves schools in every borough, City Council and community school district in New York City (NYC). Over its first six years, UA has grown from 62 teachers and 5,500 students at 31 schools to 386 teachers and 37,582 students at 174 schools. Prior to UA, there had been little collaborative work between the NYC Department of Education (DOE) and NYC’s informal science education institutions. In 2003, the NYC Council commissioned a study on the status of science education in NYC, which found that one solution to low science achievement and resource allocation was through use of informal science education institutions. In an effort to develop a city-wide program to support science education in all NYC schools and enlist the help and expertise of the city’s premiere science institutions, the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) called together a group of the leading informal science education institutions in NYC to develop a program that was unique to their institutions, emphasized investigation of scientific phenomenon, and focused on an area of science education that was assessed by the New York State Intermediate-Level Science Test and required in the NYC science curriculum for middle schools. This led to a focus on the long-term investigations known as “science exit projects” that were required of all 8th grade students in NYC and linked to the state test and standard focused on scientific inquiry.

UA consists of the following components: (1) high-quality professional development for teachers and administrators; (2) classroom materials and equipment that promote scientific inquiry and authentic investigations; (3) access to UA Partner institutions through free school and family field trips; (4) outreach through family events, celebrations of student achievement, and parent coordinator workshops; (5) capacity-building and sustainability structures, including a network of demonstration schools and support for the development of lead teachers; and (6) assessment of program goals, student learning, systems of delivery, and outcomes. We will review NYC educational policies and structures over the past several years that impacted the development and delivery of UA. We will discuss how staff from the informal science education institutions worked with various stakeholders including science coordinators, parent coordinators and other key staff from the DOE to create and implement the UA program. We will discuss how changes in the structure of the DOE (specifically decentralization) corresponded with changes to UA. Finally, we will describe funding sources and changes to these sources over time. Preliminary evaluation results highlight the program’s positive impact on student science achievement. Understanding the history and policy context of groundbreaking collaborative programs such as UA can help inform the design and implementation of similar programs in other urban settings seeking to improve science education among middle school students.

Authors

• James B. Short, American Museum of Natural History

• Suzanne Elgendy, American Museum of Natural History

• Hudson Roditi, American Museum of Natural History

• Jay Holmes, American Museum of Natural History