BEST Boston Science Partnership, Phase II

The Boston Science Partnership was a five-year NSF-funded Math and Science Partnership project designed to improve science teaching and learning in Boston’s middle and high schools, enhance university-level teaching by STEM faculty, and ensure the university partners’ continued support for and faculty involvement in science education. The Boston Public Schools, the University of Massachusetts Boston, and Northeastern University are the principal partners. Harvard Medical School and the College Board participate as supporting partners. EDC conducted the research component of that project, which focused on ways in which the project’s activities ultimately affect faculty and teachers’ instruction and identifies the institutional capacities and barriers to lasting changes and partnerships that have resulted from their involvement in this work. EDC’s science research team will continue its research work in Phase II in collaboration with the PeRG evaluation team. The research questions focus on both documenting and comparing the relative impact of concept-driven versus discipline-driven professional development.