Leaders Institute

Join fellow administrators for a day of empowering strategies, connection, and inspiration through focused leader-centric professional learning.

At NSTA’s Leaders Institute, education leaders will explore practical, research-based approaches that transform teaching and learning in the classroom, participate in formative conversations with subject-matter experts, boost their leadership skills, and expand their network of supportive colleagues and peers. Don’t miss this immersive, full-day learning experience—you will come away with actionable insights into your own leadership, a renewed sense of purpose for your work, and clarity about future goals for your ongoing growth as a leader.

Full-Day Workshop

About the Session

How can we use high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) paired with curriculum-based professional learning (CBPL) to ensure effective science teaching and learning? Join us to consider how leaders build internal capacity for the selection and sustained effective implementation of high-quality instructional materials. Work with other leaders to consider strategies to lead change toward more equitable systems that support all science learners—now and into the future.

Key Takeaways

• Consider how high-quality instructional materials can be used to design more equitable systems
• Discuss how to share the vision, support implementation, and build internal capacity for ongoing support for curriculum implementation

Presenters

Jody Bintz

Jody Bintz serves as BSCS Associate Director for Strategic Partnerships and Director, Educator Learning. She works primarily in the areas of leadership development and teacher professional learning. Bintz designs, studies, and leads programs to develop organizational leadership capacity, particularly as related to implementing the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the evaluation, selection, and implementation of high-quality instructional materials designed for next generation science. She co-directs the NEXUS Academy for Science Curriculum Leadership in partnership with WestEd and leads BSCS’s Science Teachers Learning from Lesson Analysis (STeLLA) teacher professional learning and leadership development programs.

Jim Short

Jim Short is the Program Director for Leadership and Teaching to Advance Learning at Carnegie Corporation of New York. His work at the foundation focuses on building the capacity of teachers and system leaders to implement new college and career-ready standards. The portfolio invests in the development of high-quality instructional materials, assessments, and curriculum-based professional learning for teachers and instructional leaders. Building on the foundation’s support for new science standards, the Corporation launched OpenSciEd in 2018 partnering with ten states to improve the supply of and demand for high-quality science instructional materials and curriculum-based professional learning. In 2020, Short co-authored a Corporation report on The Elements: Transforming Teaching through Curriculum-Based Professional Learning. Prior to Carnegie Corporation, Short was the founding Director of the Gottesman Center for Science Teaching and Learning at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. His experience in education also includes teaching secondary science as well as graduate courses in science education, director of the National Academy for Curriculum Leadership at BSCS Science Learning, and district science coordinator in Denver Public Schools.

Jenine Cotton-Proby

Jenine Cotton-Proby is a Science Educator in the Professional Learning division of BSCS Science Learning. Prior to joining BSCS, she served for 19 years as a high school Chemistry teacher in the same school district she attended as a student. She taught International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement, College Prep and Co-Teaching Chemistry as well as almost every other science discipline at least once. While working as a high school Chemistry teacher, she mentored new teachers and helped them make sense of the Next Generation Science Standards. Her passion for leading professional learning prompted her move to BSCS Science Learning where she is currently part of a number of Professional Learning projects and involved in the organization’s commitment to equity and social justice. She lives in Waldorf, Maryland with her family and enjoys the culture and museums in the Washington, DC area.

Molly Leifeld

Molly Leifeld is the PreK-12 Science Coordinator for Saint Paul Public Schools. Her work is focused on standards and curriculum implementation, professional development, and collaboration with partners with an overarching goal of ensuring high-quality science experiences for all learners. She is currently partnering with BSCS Science Learning on a multiyear project designed to support the implementation of the 2019 MN science standards using the OpenSciEd middle school curriculum and on an NSF Noyce project focused on developing teacher leaders. Molly is a licensed earth science teacher and school administrator.