Having the library closed might just seem like another annoying reason to find somewhere else to sit. But what’s happening inside goes far beyond the inconvenience. Beyond those locked doors, science educators from the Tri-State Consortium 2025, a group of public school districts dedicated to collaborative inquiry and continuous improvement, came together to work on the Tri-State Consortium 2025. This event is focused on learning, networking and different activities, with the goal of finding new ways to provoke curiosity in K-12 STEM education and encourage student research.
The three-day conference features a new agenda each day, with the Staples science department and department chair John DeLuca providing participants with specific questions to guide their observations. The goal is to evaluate whether the department is meeting its instructional objectives and to explore new ways to make science education even stronger.
“We asked how well we’re making science meaningful for students,” DeLuca explained. “This morning, they looked at about 40 different assignments that we give you guys all the time. Then we did science practices, the kinds of things students do in class, like creating models. And this afternoon, they’re going to observe classes.”
On Thursday the conference shifts to a new focus: hearing directly from the school community. Participants will meet with students, parents, teachers, and administrators, including DeLuca and Superintendent Thomas Scarice.
‘“We also have focus groups where they’re talking to students and they’re talking to teachers,” DeLuca said. “Then, they’ll speak with parents and interview me and Superintendent Scarice.”
By Friday, the evaluations wrap up and the science department will receive insights on how they can strengthen their program and take it to the next level.
“Friday, they do this really interesting thing where they kind of just talk about us and we watch,” DeLuca said. “They give us feedback, then they read a report and they give it to us.”
Once the conference is complete, Staples is left with very valuable information on their next steps to improve the K-12 science curriculum.
“We saw a lot of evidence of that in kindergarten through fifth grade,” DeLuca said. “You see a little less of it in middle school, and even less in high school. That makes us think okay, maybe that’s an area we should focus on. Let’s find ways to build that up instructionally.”
Not only does Staples benefit from the conference, but the participants evaluating the school also take valuable lessons back with them.
“Another one of the teachers who were visiting today said ‘I do this probably once a year’ and the reason why he does it is there’s no better teacher training than this,” Deluca said. “There’s nothing better because you go to other schools and you see how they do things. And then he said, ‘I can bring that back to my district.’”
