For 2012-’13, West Windsor-Plainsboro has added a new talent to fill a leadership role in a key academic area: science. Rebecca McLelland-Crawley, who takes over for Rob Richard as the school district’s head science supervisor this fall, was one of 97 recipients of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. In late June she traveled to Washington, D.C. for an official ceremony and events, including visits with members of Congress and the Obama Administration.
McLelland-Crawley was one of two teachers from New Jersey selected for the award, the other being a math teacher from Point Pleasant. Winners were selected by a national panel of distinguished scientists, mathematicians, and educators.
In Washington award winners met with members of the National Science Foundation and participated in seminars on next-generation science standards. “We met with the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and we helped them hash out documents on how to improve S.T.E.M. education nationwide. We each gave our recommendations, which were going to be heard by the President,” McLelland-Crawley said in a telephone interview.
In meetings, she made a recommendation for altering the teacher evaluation process. She believes more value must be placed on the teaching profession in general in order to recruit more top-notch science teachers to lead students.
“When we are evaluating teachers, it cannot be just a single person who is part of the evaluation process — you have to bring in outsiders, and it has to be more than just a one time visit to a classroom,” she said.
In her previous position, McLelland-Crawley taught 11th and 12th grade science courses in biology, marine science, and AP environmental science at Perth Amboy High School. Before that she taught at William C. McGinnis Middle School. But having recently started her new position in West Windsor-Plainsboro (WW-P News, May 25), she considers the award as a “way of going out on top” from both her role in full-time classroom instruction and from Perth Amboy.
“[The award] validated a lot of what I was doing in the classroom and knowing that, from an outside perspective at the highest level, that what I was doing was right. For me it really validated that inquiry-driven science is the way to go,” she says.
Inquiry-driven science is defined by teachers as basing science lessons on what the students “are naturally creative with or creative about.” McLelland-Crawley says the objective is to use the students’ natural curiosity to drive instruction. She believes in “No Child Left Indoors,” having taken Perth Amboy students to various sites of the Raritan Watershed to conduct field work for water quality investigations.
“We used authentic investigations of the Raritan Watershed in my classroom so that students were not only learning the content standard of using scientific inquiry in the classroom, which is one of the big national standards occurring, but also to have students invested as stakeholders in their community and really learning that what they do on a daily basis is that affects the water supply,” she said.
Students from her classes worked with environmental engineers to develop a grant for $700,000 to restore Perth Amboy’s Willow Pond. McLelland-Crawley says students drove the effort although she steered them to the opportunity.
“The students are the ones who went to all the town council meetings and garnered the support from the community. It was just giving them a case which they could get involved in and really learn the science behind it to solve the problem,” she says.
McLelland-Crawley said many students who worked on the project have now graduated from college after continuing with biology or environmental science courses. She says some of her former students became environmentalists.
McLelland-Crawley is a highly decorated educator. In 2005, she was recognized as Teacher of the Year for Perth Amboy High School and also named the New Jersey Phi Delta Kappa/Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Kean University in Union, and an M.S.Ed in Integrating Technology in the Classroom from Walden University, an online college through which she is currently pursuing a doctoral degree.
McLelland-Crawley served as president of the Biology Teachers Association of New Jersey (BTANJ) from 2008 to 2011. She is still part of the group’s executive board, involved in professional development programs for teachers. She says in years past much of her work with the association was centered around bringing technology into biology classrooms, integrating the use of “smart boards” for science classes, and helping teachers utilize web-based tools. The BTANJ also partners with Rutgers University for a mentoring program for student-teachers.
McLelland-Crawley served in an additional capacity as the BTANJ’s liaison to the state Department of Education’s Office of S.T.E.M. The position involved being a voice from biology teachers and going for meetings with the state DOE.
“When the DOE was looking for suggestions, trying to learn what teachers needed, or learn what was commonplace for biology classrooms, I was the voice for teachers. I let them know not every classroom is equipped for technology and that some teachers found it difficult to teach all that was covered with new state standards. Then I’d take information down the pipeline and let the BTANJ know what the state department thought, so that there was always an open door,” she said, adding that the experience let her know about next-generation science standards and core practices originating at the DOE.
McLelland-Crawley is also active with the New Jersey Math and Science Coalition Board of Governors. Her selection to lead WW-P’s sciences and her selection for the Presidential Award come at a time when America is paying much closer attention to science education — deemed one critical subject where the majority of U.S. students lag behind their counterparts in Asia, especially India and China.
Over the past two years President Obama has promised to strengthen America’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (S.T.E.M.) education, outlining a need to prepare 100,000 effective science and mathematics teachers by 2020. The focus on S.T.E.M. subjects is part of President Obama’s “Educate to Innovate” campaign, which has raked in more than $700 million in donations and support from corporations, philanthropies, service organizations, and other sources.
When he announced the Presidential Award winners in June, Obama said “America’s success in the 21st century depends on our ability to educate our children, give our workers the skills they need, and embrace technological change.” McLelland-Crawley is on a mission to help WW-P reach and exceed that objective.
In her 15 years as a teacher in Perth Amboy, McLelland-Crawley was early to embrace technology to make classes both informative and interactive. Along with fieldwork, her students presented projects through podcasts, iMovie versions of lab reports, and individual class websites or iTunes.
“We had an iTunes channel and a Youtube channel, so the work students produced was not just for me, it was for a global audience — that raises the stakes in students’ minds and in reality. They had to be much sharper in the way they presented projects,” she said.
Integrating some new methods into West Windsor-Plainsboro’s science curriculum is part of the plan for McLelland-Crawley. She announced that the school district will change its biology curriculum to become problem-based. Google Docs will also be used for teachers and students to participate in online collaborations as well.
The curriculum committee and the school board have yet to formalize any changes for biology. McLelland-Crawley says 2012-’13 will serve as a pilot year for the new curriculum and the district will then collect data on “how much students are better able to walk away with 21st-century competencies.”
“Students do well in mastering concepts, but where students fall short is in those 21st century competencies. We want to make sure they will be able to transfer the knowledge they are gaining to really articulate what they learn through project-based learning,” she said.
An overarching theme to each subject will be presented, and McLelland-Crawley says students will be Skype-ing with scientists in England.
Problem-based learning was something that McLelland-Crawley’s Perth Amboy classes evolved into. She described the foundation for the method is based in providing motivation for children by giving them a realistic problem to solve versus giving them a worksheet or telling them to solve something that does not really pertain to their life. The shift is likely to focus on more interaction and less memorization.
“The ability to transfer what you know when you have been fully engaged in the process is so much more evident to teachers. I think once teachers start using it, they’re going to be happy with what they have,” she says.
She says another part of the equation is using students natural curiosity and interest to educate others about what they are learning. Kids take their classwork and lessons home with them, and this can be integrated into a family’s conversations or activities.
McLelland-Crawley and her husband Steven Crawley, a carpenter, have two children — Aidan, 4, Kathryn,2 — and live in Piscataway. As part of her prize, McLelland-Crawley received a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation to be used at her discretion. She says the money is being used for services for her son, who is autistic. But her family’s best learning experiences come from mom’s inclinations.
“When we are with the kids at night, we always look at the stars and talk to them about it. We have a garden, and the kids and I spend time there and wait for butterflies to land on us. I enjoy being in nature and asking questions. That’s always been part of who I am,” she says.
McLelland-Crawley’s father was a police officer in Perth Amboy for many years. Her mother, sister, and brother-in-law are all teachers. She grew up in Perth Amboy, where she and her sister would go on to teach, and the family moved to Edison when McLelland-Crawley was in middle school. She graduated from Edison High School before moving on to Kean University for college.
McLelland-Crawley describes herself as “beyond a science nerd.” She says a major part of her childhood as well as her adult life has been spent exploring nature and the outdoors. “There is so much beauty in the world, and if you have a scientific way of looking at things, that can enlighten you,” she said.
In 1995 McLelland-Crawley studied abroad for one semester at Australia’s Deakin University. She has maintained contacts with the university throughout her teaching career, keeping touch with a friend down under who was in the same major as her at Deakin. Her friend also became a biology teacher.
“A lot of my students had set up Skype and other communications with students at my friends’ school. I have been asking around in West Windsor about who would like to take on the biology realm now of continuing my partnership with my friend from Australia,” McLelland-Crawley said.
When it came to her own education, McLelland-Crawley was also quick to embrace technology’s new form of a learning experience. After beginning master’s level coursework in traditional classrooms at Rutgers, Kean, and Seton Hall, McLelland-Crawley decided to pursue her graduate studies online.
“What I found out was that the more that I was putting into my own classroom (in Perth Amboy), the harder it was to go back and study at a traditional brick and mortar school. I took a couple of courses online and found them to actually be more difficult and more challenging than sitting down in a traditional classroom. Online coursework required much more reflective thoughts in my responses to classmates,” she says.
McLelland-Crawley also noticed the different degree of interaction that online classes can deliver. “It strengthened my ability to really research things and to be an independent learner more than I think a traditional school would have done,” she says.
She says pursuing an M.S.Ed and her Ed.D through online coursework “probably the best decision that I ever made.”
McLelland-Crawley’s doctoral degree will be in Teacher Leadership with a focus on how professional learning communities can help student achievement. She developed a strong relationship with Pfizer as students in her Perth Amboy classes were mentored and worked on projects with some of the Fortune 100 company’s employees. She expects to find some similar collaborations in the biopharma sector in West Windsor, Plainsboro, and surrounding towns.
Due to her position with the Biology Teachers’ Association of New Jersey, McLelland-Crawley says she had worked with several faculty members and administrators from the WW-P district for a long time. But she had not given much thought to leaving her classroom for an administrative position. Overall, the opportunity excited her but she wanted to ensure another objective could be met.
“I loved being in the classroom — that was one of the things that I stressed when I interviewed here. I still love being in a classroom, I want to be with the students as that’s where I’ve had the most fun. Seeing them have that ‘ah-ha’ moment is precious. My real goal is to be in there (classes) and really see the K to 12 vision of engaging science — to be very visible to students and help support our teachers. I know how difficult things can be, having taught for 15 years, and I know about wanting to reach out and have a supervisor around to be a sounding board. I want to be available for teachers to have someone to reach out to and to provide them with the resources they would need,” she says.
McLelland-Crawley also says the BTANJ is comprised of a tightly-knit group of teachers.
“We all speak frequently, so if I am looking for advice on practices or ask about what is going on in West Windsor or other places, or if there is just something ‘sciency’ going on,” she says, “I know I can always reach out” to her predecessor, Rob Richard. She added that she expects that Richard will take over as the president of the Biology Teachers Association of New Jersey. “He is being nominated for the position and we are hoping that he will take over,” she says.
“West Windsor-Plainsboro is a very nice and friendly place to work. The hospitality of the staff and how nice the administrators were attracted me. Everybody was very, very supportive even from the minute I thought about applying,” McLelland-Crawley said.
When asked to compare students she taught in Perth Amboy, her hometown, to WW-P’s student body, McLelland-Crawley says kids are kids no matter where you are. But how science-centered the WW-P school district is attracted her.
“When you are a science nerd, there is no better place to be than WW-P. I feel like this is a place that can really appreciate my science quirkiness,” she says.
McLelland-Crawley says one goal is to find a spot in WW-P for students to get involved in restoration. “Even if it’s a little pond with a turtle-crossing sign (at Grovers Mill Pond). We should have students out there testing water, recording their results, tracking data and getting trained through the Department of Environmental Protection — it’s pretty easy training. If we can have students work as citizen-scientists, record data, and track it over the long term, that would be phenomenal.”
