Throughout the first year, participating teachers have numerous opportunities at workshops and meetings to share experiences. Local consultants also provide a series of interim communications with central staff, lead teachers, and fellow participants, including a newsletter, special memoranda, and monthly telephone contacts. Finally, consultants plan a series of workshops to highlight pilot efforts as a way of interesting other schools and districts in the program. However, gathering data on teacher change and student achievement is built into the program. To help teachers with this process, program developers designed the Iowa Assessment Handbook, with sample assessment items addressing six domains of science.
Every attempt is made to keep travel costs low.
The Summer Leadership Institute usually involves 20 persons, including grade level teachers, scientists, and curriculum leaders. It works best to have one lead teacher for each 10 to 12 teacher participants for the three-week Summer Training Institute and the two short courses. It is possible to plan programs that involve fewer or greater numbers of teachers. It is important, however, that the program be viewed as continuous over a calendar year. Several studies have shown that female students in Chautauqua programs perform better and like science more than female students in traditional science courses.