The teacher remains in the classroom during the consultants' visit. In selecting and pairing classroom teachers with consultants, emphasis is placed on working with new teachers who demonstrate a need to increase their capacity to teach science. Classroom teachers who accept an XSCP consultant are asked to make a multiyear commitment to working with that consultant. To ensure coordination within the Rochester City School District, the district's director of science works in cooperation with the XSCP team to select participating schools, provide orientation sessions and instructional strategies to the consultants, and align the XSCP kits with the district's science curriculum. The XSCP Kits Central to the program are more than 40 kits that provide hands-on experiences for students.
Kits provide consultants with materials, lesson plans, and teaching suggestions.
The school district provides many of the consumable supplies and materials for the kits through the district's science center. Sample kit titles include States of Matter, Mystery Powders, Probability, Kitchen Physics, and Flower Dissection. After the consultants and the classroom teachers decide on the kits to be used throughout the year, the XSCP coordinator works with the consultants to make the kits available when needed. The coordinator is also responsible for refurbishing the used kits and preparing them for the next use. During the early 1990s, the program was expanded to include the Webster, New York, Central School District and several other public and parochial schools in the area.