Staff Spotlight

Here at SCVi, we have amazing people who work with our learners. We would like all of our SCVi families to meet the people who inspire our learners each and every day.

Upper School Facilitator – Rodney Olson comes to iLEAD Schools with three bachelor of science degrees: astrophysics, physics, and physics teaching.

In 2013, Rodney became a national board certified teacher. Also in 2013, he was selected by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) to become an NGSS@NSTA curator. What this means is that he evaluates physics curriculum in terms of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for the National Science Teachers Association. His reviews of the curriculum are available on the NSTA website for all physics teachers across the nation to use when trying to select good lessons that meet the new science standards. This role is ongoing and takes Rodney to the national NSTA conference each year for more training. At each national conference, he also works in the NGSS booth and talks to science teachers about what the standards are about as well as how to implement them.

Shortly after being selected for this prestigious national position, Rodney was also chosen by the California Science Teachers Association (CSTA) to be a member of their NGSS Committee. As a member of the CSTA NGSS Committee, he has reviewed the California version of the standards, made edits to the standards, and made recommendations to the California Department of Education concerning the science standards. This role is ongoing.

In the summer of 2015 he was chosen by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards to travel to Austin, Texas, to help develop the new certification exam for physics teachers.

In the spring of 2016, Rodney was selected by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and the California Department of Education to write physics questions for the new California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) NGSS exam that will be given to all California high school students starting with a pilot test in 2017.

This year, Rodney was appointed to a three-year term to the NSTA’s NGSS advisory board. He will be advising the president of the NSTA about how the NSTA should help teachers implement the NGSS. He will also attend training at the NSTA conference in Los Angeles at the end of March, and then will attend the national NSTA conferences over the next three years in Atlanta, St. Louis, and Boston to continue his work in his advisory role.