9354098 St. John Mark St. John, President of Inverness Research Associates, has organized a four-day conference in October, 1993 devoted to systemic reform of science instruction in urban school districts. Eight urban districts that are at least three years into NSF-funded reform efforts will send teams to share their experiences, develop new skills, and contribute to a proceedings volume that will document the lessons learned in these projects. Project leaders from Teacher Enhancement projects in Cleveland, Buffalo, Baltimore, San Francisco, Pasadena, and Las Vegas will be primary participants. Teams from cities with more recently initiated reform projects (New York, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, and Cincinnati) will also attend. The monograph resulting from the conference will identify barriers to systemic change encountered by the participating teams, and the solutions they have crafted. Four of the participating districts will be the subjects of in-depth case studies presented in the monograph. These lessons may prove essential to the many urban districts embarking on systemic change, including those districts eligible for NSF support through the Urban Systemic Initiative. Cost sharing on this project represents approximately 10% of the NSF contribution. ***
