I wanted to share some data feedback from our pilot of Genetics with my 8th graders (in May 2011). I am a strong proponent of data-driven instruction, and so I always pre and post test students with each unit. For the SEPUP Genetics unit, I chose to give the test bank test as is for the pre-test and post-test. I gave the test to 93 students. Of the 93 students, all made less that 60%, but one student made a 70% on the pre-test.
The majority of students showed at least 40% growth and many had over 50%. I shared with John that I have always felt as though I was a good science teacher, but I believe a teacher who has great curriculum can truly be a GREAT TEACHER. In these high stakes testing times in education having material that builds and scaffolds truly can make good education great and I am so excited to have had the chance to pilot SEPUP and to get to adopt SEPUP for our middle school science curriculum. I really believe the students learned and understood genetics through this curriculum. I look forward to all the science that will be happening at YMS next year in all of our science classrooms.