California: Valle Imperial Project in Science (VIPS). Four-Year Comparison of Student Achievement Data

The Valle Imperial Project in Science (VIPS) is a collaborative partnership that began in 1998 and serves approximately 22,500 K–6 students in Imperial County, California. Imperial County ranks highest in poverty of all 58 counties in California.

The majority of students are of historically underserved groups, while more than half are Limited English Proficient. The program implements systemic research-based science education, including use and refurbishment of instructional materials in the form of kits or modules drawn from sources such as 1) Science and Technology for Children (STC), 2) Full Option Science System (FOSS), and 3) Insights.

The effectiveness of the project was measured by the results of the Science Section of the Stanford Achievement Test administered to all 4th and 6th grade students. The test was constructed to de-emphasize specific content vocabulary and emphasize the unifying themes and concepts of science. The program assessment analyzed and compared only the scores of students who had been enrolled in the El Centro School District, regardless of school of attendance, for the last four years.

The results indicate a positive correlation between the number of years of participation in a kit-based program of science education and the strength of their scores on a norm-referenced test. There are also trends and indications that the science notebooks used with the program to stimulate focused writing experiences may transfer to an overall improvement in writing.

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