It’s Time for Science Podcast Episode 19: FOSS Pathways Awarded Design Review Badge

It's Time for Science is back in 2025 to celebrate being FOSS awarded a design review badge by Johns Hopkins University! Host Tom Racine talks with Dr. Steven Ross and Dr. Alan Reid from Johns Hopkins, before having a conversation with FOSS director Linda De Lucchi. Steven M. Ross, PhD is a professor and Executive Director at the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Ross is the author of six textbooks and over 140 journal articles in the areas of educational technology, at-risk learners, educational reform, extended learning time programs, and research and evaluation. He is a noted lecturer on school programs and educational evaluation, Editor Emeritus of the research section of the Educational Technology Research and Development journal, and a member of the editorial board for four other professional journals. He was the first faculty recipient of The University of Memphis Eminent Faculty Award for teaching, research and service, and held the Lillian and Morrie Moss Chair of Excellence in Urban Education and a Faudree Professorship at The University of Memphis. In 2019, he was awarded the prestigious Michael Spector Career Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Communications and Technology. He has testified on school restructuring research before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Youth, and Families, has been a consultant to the National Science Foundation on project evaluation design, and is a technical advisor and researcher on current national initiatives regarding the evaluation of out-of-school learning, STEM instruction, technology integration, and social-emotional learning. Alan J. Reid, PhD is an assistant research scientist at the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University. He specializes in mixed-methods evaluation research in the fields of instructional design, STEM, and educational technology. He has published several books, journal articles, and book chapters that explore the intersectionality between technology, human behavior, and learning. Dr. Reid continues to teach graduate courses in research writing, instructional design, and educational research at various institutions. Learn more about Dr. Reid here: https://alanjreid.my.canva.site/ Tom and Drs. Ross and Reid discuss FOSS Pathways being awarded the Instructional Design Review FOSS Pathways (PK-5) Tier 4 ESSA badge. They discuss the importance of curriculum design and evaluation; how the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins works to support the publishing industry to evaluate their own curricula and the importance of said curricula being scientifically based and able to be refined over time. They discuss what is involved in the design review process and what the tiers of evidence of ESSA mean; and how ESSA tier 4 is a good foundational basis for a curriculum. They discuss the badge as a type of accreditation for school districts, allowing schools to be able to validate a program; what made FOSS Pathways stand out; specific elements and rubrics from the evaluation process; and the challenges teachers and administrators face in having to continually adjust to policy changes. They close with talking about the value of these types of reviews, not just for teachers and administrators, but for students; the badge lets users know that a product has been vetted by an experienced third party (a validation that certain elements exist within the product awarded a badge). Linda De Lucchi is co-founder and director of the Full Option Science System Project (FOSS K–8). She has developed instructional materials in K–8 science education (FOSS), environmental education (OBIS), health education (HAP Project), and special education (SAVI/SELPH) for 50 years at the Lawrence Hall of Science. In addition to curriculum development, Ms. De Lucchi has directed numerous teacher preparation projects, and has provided many tens of thousands of teacher-hours of science education in service at the site level, district level, and national-leadership level throughout the country and abroad (in Israel, Slovakia, The Czech Republic, Japan, and China). She served as the co-director of the National Science Foundation funded Assessing Science Knowledge Project (ASK), as Chair of the Academic Planning Committee for the Lawrence Hall of Science, and was on the Board of Directors of the Center for Accessible Technology in Berkeley. Tom and Ms. De Lucchi talk about the history of FOSS, going back to it’s beginnings many years ago at the Lawrence Hall of Science; its foundations in work with students with visual impairments; the discovery that whenever a tool for students with disabilities worked, it ended up being a good tool for all students; the FOSS goal of helping all students learn together collaboratively; the original funding for the FOSS Program from the NSF; and working with local school districts. They go in depth discussing the logic model referenced by the researchers from Johns Hopkins in the previous interview; helping students and teachers develop strategies (from materials distribution to changing classroom culture, assessment tools, and a thoughtful plan for professional learning); what the FOSS Team hopes that the use of FOSS will produce (from short-term to long-term goals for both students AND teachers); how the development of various editions of FOSS have lead up to the current Pathways edition; why teachers can feel confident that the materials will work; science as an excellent means of developing language with English learners; working with teachers on developing strategies for sense-making discussions (students and the class making sense out of data); phenomena in FOSS since its inception; what Ms. De Lucchi would like to see in the future for elementary science education; and close discussing the ESSA tiers that the researchers from Johns Hopkins look at in assessing a program. Read more about the badge here: https://www.foss-science.com/pathways-awarded-johns-hopkins-instructional-design-review-badge/ It’s Time for Science! To get in touch with us, whether to offer some feedback, ideas for future episodes or reviews, or just to say hi, send us a message at itstimeforscience@schoolspecialty.com. We’d love to hear from you! Look for School Specialty and FOSS on X and Facebook. It’s Time for Science is produced by School Specialty and the Full Option Science System (FOSS) at the Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley.