From the desk of the WSTA President June 16,

2014



Dear WSTA Members,

It does not seem that long ago that we were welcoming you back to another school year with the
excitement and anticipation any new year brings! And as usual, we blinked and the year is
behind us. This year certainly has seen its share of excitement, most notably with the adoption
of the new Next Generation Science Standards, various STEM initiatives, and a host of science
professional development in which many of you have provided or participated. Thank you for
your continued service and involvement in science.
On October 4, I had the privilege of attending the ceremony where Governor Jay Inslee adopted
the Next Generation of Science Standards for Washington State. Much has been mentioned since
then about the equity these standards provide to all students, and the extent the standards
integrate Engineering, Math and Technology.
On June 19-20, WSTA will be represented at the Building Capacity for State Science Education
(BCSSE) conference in Denver, Colorado where state teams plan to implement the framework
vision for K-12 Science Education. The event is sponsored by the Council of State Science
Supervisors and Achieve. Having a vision of science education will give us a roadmap to
continue our collaborative efforts to impact science education in Washington State and align our
work with national implementation efforts. I cannot think of a better group of professionals to be
engaging in this work. I continue to be impressed by WSTA's partnerships with LASER,
Informal Science, OSPI, Regional Science Coordinators, Higher Education, School Districts, and
organizations like the Center for Inquiry Science, Fred Hutchinson, E3, and many others. It's
exciting to think (and hear) about the emerging work that is happening in our state. Coupling
efforts between the NGSS, instructional frameworks (5D, Danielson, and Marzano), CCSS, and
the Teacher Principal Evaluation Project will provide us with lots of opportunities, and we are
ready to continue to support science teachers with this as well.
Once again, WSTA will be represented at the National Congress on Science Education held this
year in Washington, DC. Annually, delegates representing the leaders of state science teacher
organizations convene to discuss and clarify the priorities with the National Science Teachers
Association. In the past, this event has yielded many ideas which WSTA has implemented. Most
notably, our new website! The new WSTA website, we have found, is a hub for our members to
stay informed about science education, professional development offerings around the state, state
and national science news, awards opportunities, and our new electronic journal. Our new
website also gives us a way to manage our membership database and provide members with up-
to-date information on renewals and email news blasts. Most importantly, the site allows us to
register participants for our conference in October and for professional development offerings we
provide.
Back in August, our Board of Directors set forth three goals. Increasing membership and
clarifying what members receive with their membership was our primary goal. We set forth a
goal of increasing our membership by 20%. To date, we have over 185 new memberships-well
over our 20% goal. Another goal we had was to improve our communication and marketing
presence. To that end, we created both a Facebook and Twitter account for WSTA and used our
website to send out reminders about professional development offerings, the upcoming WSTA
Conference in Spokane in October, and provided new email blasts with WSTA's Momentum-an
electronic newsletter updating members on important science matters and events. Our final goal
centered on providing our members with timely and effective professional development. Our ten
regional representatives developed and led trainings this year related to the Biology Collection of
Evidence and Next Generation Science Standards. Look for additional offerings on these topics
and others next year since we feel this is among the primary services we will continue to provide.
In the future, we plan utilize our website as a repository for science teaching ideas from our
members. We also want to provide some general frameworks on how existing lessons taught in
Washington state schools aligns with the Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI), the Science Practices,
and the Cross-cutting Concepts of the Next Generation Science Standards. We are truly excited
about the role WSTA plays as a volunteer organization in support of effective science teaching in
the state, and how we can provide direct support to our teachers in our classrooms.
The WSTA STEM conference in Spokane is scheduled for October 17-19. Check out additional
information in this issue of the journal and get registered. Incredible field trips to STEM sites
and schools are planned as well as a variety of presentations to participants. Please consider
submitting a conference proposal too.
Lastly, I want to acknowledge my Board colleagues with whom I have learned so much and
worked so hard this year. Each of them bring so much to our organization and they do an
outstanding job providing science leadership in our state.
I hope you have a good summer and have time to rest and get rejuvenated. Whether you are
planning to attend some professional development, go on a much-anticipated hike, or just going
to rest, I hope you enjoy this time. Take care and see you in the fall!

Yours,

John Parker
WSTA President