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Current Projects
The Department of Higher Education currently funds 15 partnerships through the Improving Teacher Quality State Grant Program. Each funded partnership includes institutions of higher education and high-need school districts. Funds will be used to conduct professional development activities in core academic subjects to ensure that teachers, paraprofessionals, and principals have subject matter knowledge and computer-related technology experience to enhance student learning. Awards are made for up to three years, assuming yearly progress and federal appropriation.
The following partnerships were awarded funding in January 2008 to begin three-year projects.
The following partnerships are currently in the second year of funding. They were awarded funding in January 2007 to begin three-year projects.
Institution |
Project Name |
Year 2 Award |
Year 3 Award |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EduTron Corporation | Intensive Immersion Institute for Grades 4-8 | $97,000 |
$97,000
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| Springfield College | The World is Flat: an Inservice/Preservice Professional Development Model to Change Science Misconceptions |
$37,462
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| University of Mass Amherst | Engineering for Classroom Teachers- Civil and Environmental Engineering in Our Everyday World |
$42,004
|
$42,525
|
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| Worcester State College | Forensics in the Classroom | $60,000 |
$60,000 |
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Project Descriptions
| Institution: | American International College |
| Partners: | Springfield Public Schools |
| Project: | Physics First! for Teachers |
Description: Springfield Public Schools will require incoming 9th graders to take conceptual physics and there are currently only two high school teachers in the system Highly Qualified to teach physics. This project will provide content and instructional support (summer and academic year) for teachers to prepare for the physics MTEL and for the new courses they will teach.
| Institution: | Boston University |
| Partners: | Boston Public Schools and Chicopee Comprehensive HS |
| Project: | Improving the Quality of Teachers of Physics |
Description: This project’s objective is to improve the performance of Massachusetts students in physics by improving the preparation of their teachers. The principal target audience is teachers of physics who are licensed in fields other than physics, as well as licensed physics teachers who want to improve their command of physics and physics education. All physics teachers are welcome, but special emphasis is placed on working with teachers in the Boston Public Schools. To extend our geographical range, the courses offered will be a blend of online and in-person work, with the instructors traveling to western Massachusetts as needed.
| Institution: | Clark University, Hiatt Center for Urban Education |
| Partners: | Worcester Public Schools |
| Project: | Main South Curriculum and Knowing Program |
Description:The Main South Curriculum and Knowing Program serves primarily the schools and students of Main South, a highly diverse and impoverished area in Worcester. The program joins together the expertise of liberal arts and sciences, education faculty and classroom teachers in support of three interrelated activities—curriculum teams, a summer institute program and a ‘Best Practice’ Workshop in core academic areas. We aim to enable participants to demonstrate in depth what constitutes good content understanding, what indicates student understanding of how knowledge develops in a particular discipline, and how to demonstrate ways to achieve those goals in classroom learning.
| Institution: | College of the Holy Cross |
| Partners: | Worcester Public Schools |
| Project: | Summer Mathematics and Science Teacher Professional Development Workshops |
Description: Holy Cross and the Worcester Public Schools (WPS) will collaborate in a series of summer professional development workshops designed to strengthen teachers’ abilities to improve their students’ mathematics skills in contexts linked to science. WPS teachers will come to the Holy Cross campus for three, 4-day weeks to work with Holy Cross mathematics and science faculty in order to develop teachers’ skills in using computational methods and approaches in science education. Special attention will be paid to topics that reference the mathematics and science curriculum frameworks at the middle school level and to project-based approaches to teaching mathematics and science.
| Institution: | EduTron |
| Partners: | Fitchburg State College; Lowell Public Schools; Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Project: | Intensive Immersion Institute for Grades 4-8 |
Description: Three Intense Immersion Institute courses are offered annually to emphasize conceptual understanding and problem solving. These courses are aimed at deepening the scientific understanding of teachers in grades 4-8. The partnership plans to reach about 100 teachers within the district and impact (indirectly) more than 2000 students on a yearly basis. Assessment tools developed as an integral part of the course allow the partnership to simultaneously monitor student and teacher progress annually.
Description: Fitchburg State College and the Sizer Teachers’ Center are partnering with the Fitchburg and Leominster Public School Districts to: A) Survey and assess content strengths and weaknesses of faculty and students in Science and Technology; B) Design and deliver two Science Content Institutes each year to address gaps in Science and Technology preparation and create measurable improvement in faculty content knowledge; C) Provide professional development for Integrating Science Inquiry into the 5-12 curriculum through summer workshops, monthly meetings and in-service professional development to science and education faculty to positively impact Science and Technology curricula and student learning.
| Institution: | Framingham State College |
| Partners: | Southbridge Public Schools |
| Project: | Elementary Mathematics and Its Connections to Technology and Engineering Design |
Description: Faculty from the Education and Mathematics Departments at Framingham State College will teach two graduate courses, Mathematics for the Elementary Grades and Mathematics Meets Technology/Engineering, to up to 25 Southbridge Public School (SPS) elementary teachers in Summers 2008 and 2009. The project is designed to (1) increase elementary teachers’ knowledge of mathematics, (2) create a cadre of SPS teachers who will pursue and pass the licensure test in elementary mathematics and serve as leaders to develop the mathematical knowledge of all teachers in the SPS district, (3) enhance teachers’ knowledge and use of mathematical pedagogy, and (4) broaden teachers’ use of technology in teaching math and their understanding of the linkages of mathematics to engineering and technology.
| Institution: | Lesley University |
| Partners: | Holyoke Public Schools |
| Project: | Lesley-Holyoke Partnership |
Description: The purpose of this grant is to help Holyoke teachers improve their own mathematical content knowledge in such a way that they are able to more effectively implement the district curriculum. Lesley will continue its ongoing partnership with Holyoke as Lesley faculty will collaborate with the Mathematics Curriculum Coordinator, principals, math coaches, and teachers to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics in this district. What is special about this partnership is the combined emphasis on mathematics content and how it relates to the daily curriculum.
Description: Springfield College has partnered with the Springfield Public Schools and the Springfield Science Museum to prepare highly qualified educators so that all Springfield K-6 students can achieve high academic standards. Professional development activities will be provided in the core academic subjects of science and technology. The major objectives are to: develop inservice and student teachers’ skills in identifying the sources of students’ misconceptions about science concepts (physical, earth and space, and life sciences); develop curriculum, instruction, and assessment strategies to change student misconceptions, aligned with the Curriculum Frameworks; incorporate new science content and pedagogy from the project’s professional development workshops into classrooms and College pre-service teacher courses; research and evaluate whether student misconceptions decrease among the treatment group.
| Institution: | Tufts University |
| Partners: | Boston Public Schools |
| Project: | Problem Solving with Discrete Mathematics |
Description: The Problem Solving with Discrete Mathematics (PSDM) Partnership evolved from a workshop for teachers designed by Rutgers University that has been supported at Tufts by the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education since 2002. We have revised the Rutgers curriculum and adapted it to better serve Massachusetts teachers' needs, based on discussions among participating teachers, districts, and workshop organizers. The goal of the workshops is to help teachers develop their understanding and pedagogical application of the ideas of discrete mathematics, which teaches fundamental principles through problem solving. Studies show that struggling students often respond well to having familiar concepts presented in the framework of discrete math, and the workshops give teachers helpful tools and techniques to integrate these into the classroom.
| Institution: | University of Massachusetts Amherst |
| Partners: | Springfield Public Schools |
| Project: | Engineering for Classroom Teachers - Civil and Environmental Engineering in Our Everyday World |
Description: University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Springfield Public Schools are serving three cohorts of 25 teachers (for a total of 75) over three years. Each year a three credit graduate summer course is offered with appropriate follow-up designed to enable in-service middle school science teachers to deepen their knowledge of science and engineering concepts and develop hands-on classroom activities with respect to the Massachusetts Science and Engineering/Technology curriculum frameworks. The areas of focus include: engineering design, infrastructure, foundations, structures, bridges, environmental (water quality), transportation safety, and civil construction technologies.
| Institution: | University of Massachusetts Lowell |
| Partners: | Bartlett School, Lowell |
| Project: | Enhancing Math Collaboration: School-University Initiative for Professional Development |
Description: This project will provide intensive teacher professional development that will result in raising student achievement in mathematics by strengthening teacher content knowledge and the application of content to the classroom at the Bartlett PreK-8 School in Lowell. We will provide school personnel with standards-based, high-quality professional development that is tied to the Massachusetts Mathematics Frameworks, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards, and the Department of Education’s Guidelines for the Effective Professional Development.
Description: This project provides Boston and Revere teachers with opportunities to develop science knowledge and skills and to broaden their teaching approaches, so they can create better learning opportunities for students. The Urban Ecology Institute, in partnership with Boston College-Lynch School of Education will align and integrate urban ecology field study curriculum and professional development opportunities into existing science curriculum and training opportunities offered to middle school and high school teachers in these districts.
| Institution: | Wheelock College |
| Partners: | Boston Public Schools |
| Project: | Outdoor Science: Environmental Science Professional Development for Elementary Teachers |
Description: The project will provide two cohorts of teachers with high quality, inquiry-based courses in environmental science during the summer. These experiences will be paired with an intensive year long science education course focused on strategies for teaching environmental science, and how to connect the theory in the science courses to the practice in the classroom and the district science curriculum. Both scientists and science educators will provide on-site support as needed. Two teachers from each cohort will be identified as leaders and will develop skills to lead future efforts. A yearly environmental education conference will highlight classroom work.
| Institution: | Worcester State College |
| Partners: | Worcester Public Schools; Central MA STEM Pipeline Consortium |
| Project: | Forensics in the Classroom |
Description: The objective of this project is to design a professional development workshop for middle and high school science teachers from the Worcester Public Schools. The workshop is offered over a three-year period and centers on themes in forensics. Forensic science consists of many scientific inquiry skills and principles that are within the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks including genetics, cell biology, anatomy and physiology, biodiversity, and mathematical modeling. The workshop includes both lecture and laboratory experiments as well as several laboratory techniques.