Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for November 25, 2007 IMSA

IMSA provides students chances to thrive

By Blackwell Thomas, The Southern

Viewed by passersby from the road that runs beside it, the Illinois Math and Science Academy gives no hints as to what lies within its walls.

Windowless, stout and brown it looks more like a Cold War-era bunker than a hub for some of the state's brightest high school students.

But for the past 20 years that is what it has served as. Nestled on a quiet, 93-acre tract in Aurora in Kane County, the school and its seven residence halls serve as a home away from home for its 643 students.

In this environment, IMSA has produced graduates who have earned scholarships to the most prestigious universities in the country. Students have become leading researchers, engineers and left an indelible stamp on popular culture and commerce by helping to develop such Internet icons as Netscape, YouTube and Paypal.

Those close to the school speak glowingly of its differences. The students talk about residence hall life, and the camaraderie it spawns, more like that of a small college than the public high schools most attended before arriving at IMSA. They speak of the schedule, which has no class on Wednesdays so that students can pursue independent research. Parents recall the 24-page application. Faculty refer to the students, and how their enthusiasm for learning challenges them and makes their job more enjoyable.

But most of those asked spoke of the differences in the classroom and it is here that IMSA officials are seeking to change education in Illinois.

Founded by the Illinois General Assembly in 1985, the school was envisioned as a means to address the state's "critical need for citizens highly skilled in the fields of science, mathematics and technology."

But, according to IMSA President Max McGee, the school's legislative mission extends beyond just producing math and science whizzes.

"Well, IMSA is charged with changing learning across the state," McGee said. "And part of that charge is to improve mathematics and science."

With this mandate in mind McGee, the former chief of the Illinois State Board of Education, said the school is looking to extend its reach to every school district in Illinois.

The ultimate goal McGee says is to secure the economic future of the state, which "depends upon continued technological and economic innovation."

Problems are at the center

On an unseasonably warm November morning Carterville native and IMSA senior Noble Redmon, known to friends and family as "Nobie," stood with his classmates in a molecular biology lab listening to teacher Don Dosch explain the day's exercise.

Students were smiling and the mood was loose in the room, which boasts a couple of computers, a glut of machines, microscopes and electrical chords that run in and out of the ceiling. Stacks of magazines, including Nature, Scientific American and Technology Review, cluttered shelves and a few desks.

"Today," Dosch explained, the students will be using a gel-like substance to help "isolate protein strands." Asked to explain exactly what the experiment involved Redmon smiled.

"To be honest, we are kind of in the dark on this one," he said. "He (Dosch) has a different way of teaching. He lets us ask the questions, but we have to figure it out. Usually he just leaves us really confused."

But following the confusion Redmon said is "four days of just pure learning," figuring out what the lab was about, what worked and what didn't.

And, according to Dosch, things don't work on a regular basis.

"These aren't labs to confirm what we already know; I have no idea what's going to happen," he said with laugh. "It takes a strong ego to stand in front of 20 kids and say, 'Oops.'"

But, Dosch said he believes that working through the problems and uncovering what went wrong makes for a better means of learning than simply telling the students what's happening.

"I do like that the students can start to appreciate that the science book that they are reading is built on years and years of horrendous failure," he said. "If nothing else, my students are going to learn to embrace ambiguity."

IMSA faculty and administrators believe the ambiguity springing from practical problems helps to fuel further questions. These questions in turn lead to a deeper understanding of the subject matter and, according to many, a better education.

In Dr. Jim Victory's Contemporary American History class students examined a census analysis of the 2004 presidential election, identifying and comparing differences between local and national voting patterns. In Joe Traina's Evolution, Biology and Ecology class, students were examining owl droppings to determine the relationship between predator and prey.

This is problem-based learning and many at IMSA believe it will play a key factor in advancing education in the state.

Exporting the formula

Recent math and science testing scores put Illinois in the middle of the pack both nationally and internationally but, in an increasingly globalized economy educators worry that, if the state's students aren't moving forward they are falling behind. Places like Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan lead the world in math and science and McGee worries about what that means for the future of Illinois.

Part of the problem he said is that most of the state's public schools adhere to the rigidity of the federally mandated No Child Left Behind Act, which gauges student progress almost exclusively on the results of standardized tests.

Schools that fail to reach NCLB standards can face punishment in the form of funding cuts.

"So teachers teach to the tests and you can't blame them," McGee said.

But McGee said problem-based learning creates high test scores by providing more in-depth knowledge.

To that end, IMSA is providing a number of off-campus outreach programs aimed at teachers and students.

E2K, or IMSA Excellence 2000, is an after-school program targeting talented middle school students who have shown an interest and aptitude in math and science.

In E2K, teachers are trained by IMSA staff and learn to implement their methods in lessons for the selected students. According to IMSA spokeswoman Brenda Buschbacher the program serves 62 schools in 15 counties and has so far trained 146 teachers who have in turn taught 1,244 students.

IMSA Kids Institute, targets students from kindergarten through 8th grades with hands-on learning activities. Illinois Virtual High School, of which IMSA is a partner with the state, provides enrichment offerings to high school students and, according to IMSA officials, one out of every three high schools in Illinois uses it.

The Problem-Based Learning Network utilizes conferences, online networks and seminars to offer "instruction and follow-up support for teachers in using problem-based learning."

Moving forward, McGee said he is considering other options to expand the school's presence, including satellite campuses.

A matter of resources

At the ISBE, administrators say they are working to advance problem-centered learning and applying it to math and science.

The method has a proven track record at IMSA, said Marica Cullen, administrator of curriculum instruction.

"IMSA has been a leader for most of the past two decades and what we see are a lot of other schools adopting similar models," she said.

Cullen added that, when considering teaching and curriculum, the challenge is "how to bring science to life more, but still keep the content," that will be quizzed on the standardized tests important to a school's standing in NCLB.

Aside from attracting the brightest of the bright students, IMSA benefits from a larger than average budget and employs about 60 faculty members for a student teacher ratio of 6.5 to 1.

Last year the school operated on a $22 million budget, $17.5 million of that was from state appropriations while the remaining $4.5 million came from public and private grants, fees and donations.

By comparison, Carbondale Community High School District 165, which includes only CCHS and its 1,200 students, is requesting an operating budget of about $7.9 million for the coming year.

Still McGee said the school is "feeling the pain like everyone else" and relies heavily on grants and private donations.

And it is on the often vexing matter of the budget that McGee said school districts need to bind together, close ranks and form a block that state legislators can't ignore when it comes to funding.

"It hasn't worked out for us (school districts) each looking out for our little area," he said. "We can really start to grow a stronger network, more powerful and influential - in introducing and passing legislation."