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Making the Grade ISTE offerings are divided in two streams:
Science Fellows and educator workshops.
Illinois students, particularly those who attend Chicago Public • Science Fellows is a two-year program that
Schools (CPS), underperform in school science. Last year, only specifically targets Chicago Public Schools,
19% of CPS high school students who took the ACT met or many of which are in low-income neighbor-
exceeded benchmarks in science, compared to 38% statewide. hoods and serve ESL (English as a Second
Language) students or students struggling
On the Illinois Science Assessment (ISA), only 54% of academically. Programs are free of charge.
Illinois fifth-graders and 42.5% of CPS fifth-graders scored • The for-fee educator workshops provide an
“proficient” in science. At the high-school level, only 40% of array of training throughout the year,
students statewide and nearly 24% of CPS high school students inviting all area K-12 educators to gain
scored “proficient” on the biology assessment in 2017. skills and practice teaching in alignment
with NGSS.
2017 high school 38% Students Statewide
students who 19% CPS Students “No matter which stream they’re involved
in, participants have the opportunity to
took the ACT and experience the zoo as a living classroom,”
met or exceeded said Agnes Kovacs, ISTE’s senior manager.
“Animals, plants, and sunshine all become
benchmarks tools to make science come alive for
in science participants and ultimately their students.”

The gap is even greater for low-income and minority Practice Makes Perfect
students. On the 2017 ISA, nearly 70% of African American
and 58% of Latino CPS fifth-graders scored “below The intensive program strengthens educators’
proficient.” For high school students, 77% of Latinos and understanding of science content and inquiry-
87% of African Americans did. Finally, low-income students based teaching. At the beginning of each of
of all backgrounds scored an average of 31% lower on the the two years, Fellows participate in a two-day
tests than their peers from mid-to-high-income families. introductory workshop. In four subsequent
workshops, they learn and practice new
components of inquiry and NGSS; strategize
how to apply these learnings into their
classrooms; receive feedback from Society
program leaders; and reflect on their own
revitalized classroom practices. The Society
fosters great success with this “learn, practice,
feedback, and repeat” model. It gives Fellows
time to absorb and apply new methods
throughout the year.

Following the implementation of NGSS, students of all ages learn science can be fun and
applicable to real life.

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