ABOUT US
OpenSciEd Equitable Instruction (OEI) Initiative
Our Story
In 2021, the OpenSciEd Equitable Instruction (OEI) Initiative was created at Boston College to support the scale up and enactment of the OpenSciEd (OSE) curriculum in Massachusetts. The OEI team included a diverse group of individuals with deep expertise around the design and enactment of the OSE curriculum and professional learning, coaching and instructional leadership, as well as state-level policy and infrastructure. Over three years, the OEI team designed resources, developed and nurtured relationships with schools, provided professional learning for teachers and instructional leaders, as well as coached teachers as they implemented and customized the curriculum for their classrooms and students. The OEI team worked with over 130 schools, 650 teachers and 225 leaders engaged in the MA OpenSciEd K-12 community. The resources shared on these pages stem from the work with that amazing community, which can be utilized not only by others using the OpenSciEd curriculum, but also other reform-oriented storyline science curriculum and high quality instructional materials.
Funding
This material is based upon work supported in part by the One8 Foundation, the National Center for Civic Innovation, Inc., the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary education and the National Science Foundation (under grant DRL-2101384). This project consists of the research and development of resources to support schools in the implementation of NGSS aligned storyline science curriculum, such as the OpenSciEd curriculum materials. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agencies or Boston College.
Meet the OEI Team
Katherine McNeill
Co-Director
Dr. Katherine L. McNeill (she/her) is the Bryk Faculty Fellow and Professor of science education at Boston College. A former middle school science teacher, she received her doctorate in science education from the University of Michigan. She has worked on projects designing and researching curriculum, assessments, professional development and other resources to support students, teachers and instructional leaders in equitable scientific sensemaking. She was the Co-Director of OEI. Currently, she is researching the customization and scale up of high quality open-source NGSS aligned instructional materials, such as OpenSciEd. Dr. McNeill has published the findings from her work in over 75+ publications including books, book chapters and journal articles for both educational researchers and practitioners.
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Renee Affolter
Co-Director
Renee has supported K-12 teachers in science education for over 20 years by designing, researching, and delivering professional learning (PL) for teachers and leaders. Renee served as Co-Director of OEI where she supported MA schools as they adopted OpenSciEd and conducted research on supporting teachers as they customized the materials. Previously, as part of the OpenSciEd MS Developers Consortium, Renee helped design, field-test, and revis the full suite of PL materials and served as a unit lead and writer. Renee will draw on these experiences in her new role at OpenSciEd to lead the redesign of OpenSciEd’s PL materials so that all teachers can get the support they deserve. Renee holds a B.A. in Biology from Drake University, a M.A. in Science Education from UC Berkeley , and a Ph.D. in Education from UMass Amherst.
Jana Brinkhaus
Senior Financial Administrator
Jana Brinkhaus joined OEI from Boston College’s Center for Work and Family, with a mission of enhancing the employee experience, increasing employee productivity, and improving the quality of employee lives. As the Senior Financial Administrator, Jana will be working with districts to provide grant funds and manage the operations of the OEI Initiative. Jana holds a B..S in Marketing and Human Resource Management from the Boston College Carroll School of Management and a MBA with a concentration in Finance from Babson College.
Marianne Dunne
Middle School Support Specialist
Marianne Dunne has been a science educator for 30+ years in both formal and informal settings. She worked with the OEI team for two years. Prior to that she worked with Boston Public Schools STE department as a senior project director during the field test, adoption and implementation of the OSE middle school curriculum. Marianne developed additional skills and expertise as an STE specialist at MA Department of Elementary & Secondary Education, with Cambridge Public Schools as a K-8 science instructional coach and teacher, and at the Boston Museum of Science. Her passion is facilitating professional learning experiences with science educators that promote student engagement and equitable access for all learners. Marianne holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from Northeastern University, and graduate work from UMass Boston and Salem State University.
Kathleen Golden
Events Specialist
Kathleen began her career in government and politics before transitioning to the private sector and has worked as the Director of Events at a handful of private clubs in Massachusetts before transferring to higher education. She previously worked at Dean College before joining OpenSciEd at Boston College. With over fifteen years of experience in event planning and logistics, she loved helping this dynamic team shepherd the execution of professional development events for science educators all over her home state of Massachusetts. She holds a BA from Emmanuel College in Political Science (Major) and History (Major) with a concentration in Women’s Studies (Minor), a MPP from New York University, and Level I, II, and III WSET certifications from Johnson & Wales University.
Ji Sun Ham
Middle School Support Specialist
Ji-Sun has served in education in various roles over the last 9 years, including teaching middle school science in New Haven, CT and Taunton, MA and leading the children and families programming branch for a Boston non-profit organization. After implementing OpenSciEd in her 7th grade science classrooms, Ji-Sun joined OEI as a School Support Specialist to support schools and districts in their own OSE journeys. Ji-Sun is excited to return to the classroom to teach 7th grade science with the OpenSciEd curriculum. Ji-Sun holds a B.A. in Child Development from Tufts University and a M.Ed in from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Bruce Kamerer
Middle School Support Specialist
Bruce taught for 18 years in Boston Public Schools, teaching middle math and science. He also worked in inclusion classroom settings. He was part of the 3 year field test of OpenSciEd, focusing on the 6th grade units. During his time with OEI, he worked with the district and school champions, as well as classroom teachers, to support the implementation of OpenSciEd at the district, school and classroom levels. Bruce has a Bachelors of Mechanical Engineering from University of Delaware, a MBA from University of North Carolina - Wilmington, and a JD from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. After careers in engineering, patent law, and education, Bruce is looking forward to enjoying his (second?) retirement.
Grace Lugo
Middle School Support Specialist
Grace started her journey in the field of education as a TFA Corp member serving Passaic Public Schools in Passaic, NJ. She then went on to become an Instructional Elementary and Middle School Science Coach in New Brunswick Public Schools in New Brunswick, NJ. In her role, she implemented reflective coaching practices to support teachers in the enactment of NGSS aligned instructional materials and storylined curricula. At the district level, she coordinated and co-led 3D assessment initiatives and developed PBL curricula for the summer enrichment program. She also supported the MS OpenSciEd (OSE) pilot as an instructional coach. Grace has a B.S in Biology and Secondary Education from The College of New Jersey and is currently pursuing a M.Ed in Educational Leadership.
Regan McKinnon
High School Support Specialist
Regan began his teaching career through the Boston Teacher Residency after serving as an AmeriCorps volunteer in an elementary school. He went on to teach both middle school science and high school physics for five years in Boston Public Schools. He was a part of the middle school OpenSciEd field test and taught it during the pandemic. He then went on to pilot the high school OpenSciEd Physics curriculum. As a School Support Specialist, he leveraged his experiences with both curricula to support HS field test high school teachers with instructional implementation, as well as school/district leaders. He also supported the MA Adaptations and HS STE HQIM Leadership projects. Regan has a B.S. in Chemistry from Boston College and a M.Ed from the University of Massachusetts Boston.
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Hillary Paul Metcalf
Program Manager
Hillary Paul Metcalf served as the Program Manager for OEI, supporting school teams in their preparation for adopting OpenSciEd and leading the OEI school support team. Prior to her time with OEI, Hillary was a Science and Technology/Engineering Support Specialist with the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and a high school science teacher. Hillary is passionate about providing tools and professional learning that support teachers and leaders to disrupt inequities in their contexts. Hillary has joined the Center to Support Excellence in Teaching at Stanford University as part of the design teams developing the next iterations of OpenSciEd professional learning. She holds a B.E. in Biomedical Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology and a M.A. in Science Teaching and Supervision from Columbia University Teachers College.
Patricia Remigio
Middle School Support Specialist
Patricia began her education career through Teach For America New York. Upon her return home to Lawrence, Massachusetts, she taught 9 years at the middle and high school level, mostly teaching ELA and science, both in the general and special education setting. Her passion for education led her to take on the role of school support specialist with the OEI team at Boston College. At the district, school, and classroom level, she worked alongside district, and school leaders, and also teachers implementing the OpenSciEd curriculum. Patricia is excited for her new role as a leadership consultant for the Massachusetts DESE’s Statewide System of Support where she will continue supporting districts in MA. Patricia has a bachelor's degree in Sociology from Northeastern University, and her Master’s degree in Education with a concentration in Special Education from Brooklyn College.
Sarah Ridder
Elementary School Support Specialist
Sarah is thrilled to support the OpenSciEd Elementary field test in the state of Massachusetts after relocating from the Denver-metro region of Colorado. While in Colorado, Sarah served as her school district's Secondary Science Coordinator when the state adopted new science standards, which were an adaptation of the Next Generation Science Standards. She also used the OpenSciEd middle school curriculum materials as a classroom teacher. Sarah has a passion for supporting teachers as they implement high quality instructional practices and materials, like OpenSciEd, and is eager to do this work with Massachusetts field test teachers and leaders. Her experience as a member of OpenSciEd's and inquiryHub's national facilitation teams, as a science teacher, and Science Coordinator will help her provide effective support for our teachers. Sarah completed her undergraduate and graduate work at Wright State University in Ohio.
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Nicole Ruttan
Middle School Support Specialist
Nicole spent 15 years teaching in Boston Public Schools, predominantly in the Sheltered English Instruction setting. She was part of the 3 year pilot of OpenSciEd, focusing on the 8th grade units. In her role as OEI School Support Specialist, she worked with district and school champions, as well as classroom teachers, to support the implementation of OpenSciEd at the district, school and classroom levels. Nicole has a B.A. in Linguistics from the University of Chicago and an M.Ed from the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Presentations
The OEI Team has presented at numerous conferences. You can see their presentations and materials at the annual Massachusetts Association of Science Teachers (MAST) and National Science Teacher Association (NSTA) conferences on the landing pages linked to the right.
Publications
Lowell, B. R., Fogelman, S. E., & McNeill, K. L. (in press). Organizational sensemaking during curriculum implementation: The dilemma of agency, role of collaboration, and importance of discipline-specific leadership. Science Education.
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Lee, S. DiFrancesco, B., Fine, C. G., & McNeill, K. L. (in press). Expanding language use: Supporting emergent multilingual learners’ sensemaking in science. Science Scope.