Amplify Science

In close partnership with the KIPP Foundation and local institutions such as the University of California, Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science, we will be implementing the new Amplify Science curriculum across all of our K-8 and middle schools in the 2017-18 school year. This digitally blended curriculum was built from the ground up to align with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and intentionally designed to facilitate a three-dimensional learning experience for our students.

For more information on the 17-18 Pilot and the work from the KIPP Foundation STEM Guiding Coalition, please visit the KIPP Share Page.

18-19 AMPLIFY PLANNING

REGIONAL AND SCHOOL COMMITMENTS

Amplify Science continues to be the regionally recommended core curriculum for all science classrooms in grades K-8.

REGIONAL TEAM

• Coordination with KIPP Foundation and National Amplify Master Teacher initiative
  • Coming with new and revised internalization resources
• Data analysis and support for site-level planning
• Regional purchasing and account access

SCHOOL SITE

• Follow the Amplify sequence of units for integrated middle years
• Administer the Pre-, Critical Juncture-, and Post-Unit assessments as-is for Grades 6-8 on Amplify’s platform
• Administer the NGSS-aligned benchmark assessments for Grades 3-8

PURCHASING AMPLIFY

Account Access

Amplify student accounts are created through Clever, which means that as soon as the PowerSchool Master Schedule is finalized, student accounts will be created within the same timeline as blended learning programs.

Teacher accounts are manually created and managed through Amplify. Please email Phil with any questions regarding teacher and leader account access.

Kits

It is not recommended that returning schools purchase brand new kits for the 18-19 school year. In most circumstances, kits do not need to be replaced.

Amplify does offer refill kits for each unit. Prices for each refill kit are available in the Purchasing Tool (see below).

Purchasing Tool

In this folder, a tool has been developed for each school to help project costs and submit orders for Amplify in the 18-19 school year. Simply type in the number of students you have for each grade level, indicate which kits you’d like to purchase, and the tool will automatically calculate your estimated costs for Amplify next year! Phil will be following up with each school individually to finalize orders.

NEW FOR 18-19

KIPP National Amplify Master Teachers

As a part of the Master Teacher Project, KIPP Foundation will be creating unit content companions, videos to aid teachers in their internalization of units, simulations, labs, and lesson, and daily exemplar materials. Materials will be available online at anytime for teachers to access alone or together in content teams for lesson/unit internalization time. Three teachers from the Bay Area have been selected as KIPP National Amplify Master Teachers, and will be collaborating with other Master Teachers to create these resources this summer and throughout the year. KIPP Bay Area is working closely with KIPP Foundation and the KIPP National Amplify Master Teachers initiative to update internalization guides and planning resources.

NGSS-Aligned Benchmark Assessments

Amplify hired the education consulting firm Six Red Marbles to create NGSS aligned benchmarks for grades 3-8. We will be getting these interims for FREE with any full student licence. KF will import the new benchmarks into Illuminate for regional use in FY19. These benchmarks should provide better data on student achievement for specific PEs and stronger evaluative and predictive data for the network.

Amplify will release sample benchmarks towards the end of April 2018. KIPP Foundation will work over the summer to make these accessible in Illuminate and according to each regions varying scope and sequence. All benchmarks should be accessible by July/August.

Amplify DDI PD for Teachers and Coaches

Specific protocols and DDI training will be provided for Amplify. Teachers will be trained on how to best utilize the Progress Build (after Critical Juncture and End-of-Unit Assessments) and how to analyze and use benchmark data.