North Sound Alliance
Dana Riley Black
Alliance Director
Director of Center
for Inquiry Science
Institute for Systems Biology
1441 N. 34th St.
Seattle, WA 98103
Voice: 206-732-1394
Fax: 206-374-2886
dblack@systemsbiology.org
Kim Klinke
Alliance Co-Director
Program Manager of Center
for Inquiry Science
Institute for Systems Biology
1441 N. 34th St.
Seattle, WA 98103
Voice: 206-732-1456
Fax: 206-732-1299
kklinke@systemsbiology.org
2. Information on the Alliance
The North Sound LASER Alliance is inclusive of all regional LASER districts and welcoming to districts that are interested in learning more about LASER.
Established in 2001 with leadership from Seattle Public Schools, the North Sound LASER Alliance is coordinated by the Center for Inquiry Science at the Institute for Systems Biology. The alliance encompasses a region that includes a significant number of LASER school districts, which range in their placement along a continuum of science education reform. Each of the districts has its unique strategic plan and has adopted a distinctive set of inquiry based science curriculum. Teachers in some of the districts have already completed their 54 hours of initial use professional development (in part supported by LASER funding), while other districts are just beginning or revising reform efforts outlined in their strategic plans.
LASER funding for the current fiscal year (2007-2008) will be utilized to support professional development activities for teachers in the Bellevue, Everett, Highline, Issaquah, Lake Washington, Renton, Seattle, and Tukwila school districts. Each of these cooperating School Districts has attended and completed a LASER Strategic Planning Institute and has adopted (or are in the process of adopting) new curriculum that is maintained/refurbished in an in-district materials center, or rented/refurbished from a neighboring school district's materials center. Representatives from these school districts will work with North Sound LASER Alliance staff to plan and facilitate initial use professional development. On a space-available basis, extra seats in the professional development offerings will be open to North Sound LASER Alliance districts at large.
The North Sound LASER Alliance has recently established a Regional Materials Centers Network and welcomes all district materials centers managers of the region to join the networking events. Similarily, the North Sound LASER Alliance is in the process of establishing a Regional Science TOSA Network to support networking and collegiality amongst regional science TOSAs.
Contact Center for Inquiry Science staff at cis@systemsbiology.org for additional information regarding the Alliance or visit the website at www.systemsbiology.org/Center_for_Inquiry_Science.
For a list of science education related events in the Puget Sound region, please visit www.systemsbiology.org/Center_for_Inquiry_Science/Course_Catalog