Washington State Leadership and Assistance for Science Education Reform (LASER) Partnership
What is Washington State LASER?
Washington State LASER helps school districts initiate, implement and sustain a standards-based, inquiry-centered science education program in grades K-12. It is part of the national LASER project.
What is National LASER?
LASER is a national K-12 science education reform project undertaken by the National Science Resources Center (NSRC). Eight (8) geographic sites around the United States, publishers of NSF-supported middle and elementary school curriculum materials, several major corporations, and the NSRC's parent institutions, the Smithsonian and the National Academy of Sciences were part of an initial project to disseminate a theory of action and a set of building blocks for reform built on almost two decades of NSRC experience working with hundreds of school districts. States represented include Alabama, California, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Washington. Washington LASER and the NSRC's LASER Center work with Washington's school districts, academic institutions, business/corporations and museums/science centers to plan, implement, and sustain effective science education reform programs.
What's New?
The BSCS National Academy for Curriculum Leadership is a partnership between the BSCS Center for Professional Development and Washington State LASER, with major support from Battelle, Agilent Technologies Foundation and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
The BSCS National Academy for Curriculum Leadership (the ACADEMY) can help high schools and districts develop leaders with the knowledge and skills they need to implement inquiry-oriented, standards-based instructional materials, thereby improving learning and teaching in their science classrooms.
The ACADEMY program is a three-year professional development initiative for school- and/or district-based Leadership Teams focused on building the leadership capacity for curriculum reform through the implementation of NSF-funded instructional materials.
For more information please contact: jeff.estes@pnl.gov
