The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education has funded 45 projects in the 1997-1998 cycle (September 1997-August 1998). This directory includes:
Redesign of Teacher Preparation Experiences:
This grant seeks to prepare teachers who believe that universal virtues
such as honesty, respect for self and others, and justice can be instilled
in children through example, expectation, and instruction and who understand
that the kind of classroom environment they create sends a critical message
about moral conduct. In the words of classicist William Arrowsmith, "The
only noble motive for learning is the hope of becoming a better person"
(Delattre, 1993, p. 36). This grant seeks to achieve this motive by:
a) creating a series of seminars that immerses Boston University elementary preservice teachers in the study of classical and current thought on character education and that brings the Elementary Education program into alignment with the Frameworks' commitment to character education. These seminars will be planned and implemented by Chelsea and Boston University faculty members.
b) requiring these preservice teachers to put into practice what they have learned about their responsibilities as moral agents in their student teaching placements.
c) offering three professional development seminars to 30 cooperating teachers who mentor Boston University preservice teachers. The grant team recognizes that the preparation of character educators cannot be confined to the college classroom. This preparation must extend to the classroom under the tutelage of exemplary practitioners. To this end, three seminars, co-taught by Chelsea and Boston University faculty members, will inform the cooperating teachers about the content and required assignments of the proposed seminar series on character education, including the Learning Standards tied to moral education in the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks across subject matter areas. The grant team will solicit feedback on the proposed seminar series and will revise the proposed seminars in accordance with this feedback. In addition, discussions about ways that cooperating teachers can support, assess and extend the efforts of the preservice teachers as novice character educators will take place.
Objectives of the Character Education Seminars for Preservice Teachers
This grant will introduce preservice teachers to character education Learning
Standards of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks with the goal of preparing
preservice teachers who:
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Carol Jenkins
605 Commonwealth Avenue
R. 506
Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Voice: 617.353.7103
Email: cbj@bu.edu
Eisenhower Continuation Grant:
The Moakley Center/CityLab Connections Project supported professional
development experiences to twenty-five educators from the Brockton and Bridgewater-Raynham
Public schools. Since January, 1997, when the satellite site opened, over
80 junior high and high school classes have come to the CityLab satellite
site in the Moakley Center and have taken part, first hand, in a real discovery
- oriented, hands-on experience in the biosciences.
The Moakley Center/CityLab Connections Project II for 1997-1998 will expand the initiative to include two tiers of educator participants. Tier One will have the same general organization as last year. Twenty-five additional educators from Southeastern Massachusetts will participate in the course, CityLab: Methods & Strategies for Teaching Laboratory Investigations in Molecular Biology, which focuses on the pedagogical implementations and implications associated with the CityLab investigations.
The project will also initiate a second tier. Participants of this tier will be the cohort of educators from last year. The focus of Tier Two will be on results and interpretation. Teachers will be enrolled in a graduate level course entitled BE501: Cell and Molecular Biology for K-12 Teachers. The educators will gain a deeper understanding of subject matter by concentrating on the science involved. The course will cover the same CityLab modules as covered during the 1996-1997 academic year; however this time, emphasis will be placed on subject matter, understanding, trouble shooting and underlying principles instead of pedagogy.
The Moakley Center/CityLab Connections Project II has the following objectives:
For more information, please contact:
Dr. John Jahoda
Conant Science Buiding
Bridgewater State College
Bridgewater, Massachusetts 02324
Email: jjahoda@bridgew.edu
Bristol Community College/Durfee High School Partnership
Recruiting for a Diverse Teaching Profession Grant:
Bristol Community College and Durfee High School will address any pressing
need to recruit greater diversity into the Fall River teaching profession.
The program design employs early identification and aggressive recruitment
of promising teacher candidates and tests a variety of orientation and support
strategies to see what works best. Faculty and administrators will have
the opportunity to explore how teacher recruitment efforts are handled both
at the regional and national levels and bring the "best practices"
back to Fall River.
Major project elements include:
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Aileen Mack
Bristol Community College
777 Elsbree Street
Fall River, Massachusetts 02720
Voice: 508.678.2811 x2944
Begining Teacher Induction Grant:
1. Collaborative Teacher Preparation Course Development and Evaluation
2. PDS Reflective Practice Teams
3. Continue Multi-level (K-16) Curriculum Study and Planning Teams
4. Mentor Teacher Program
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Thomas DelPrete
950 Main Street
Worcester, Massachusetts 01610-1477
Voice: 508.793.7222
Email: tdelprete@clarku.edu
Recruiting for a Diverse Teaching Profession:
This program, a partnership between Fitchburg State College and Fitchburg
High School, focuses on increasing underrepresented and disadvantaged
students' interest in teaching as a profession. Bringing together college
faculty, high school mentor teachers and preservice college students with
high school students provides for a clearer understanding of the teaching
profession. The Fitchburg State College Manual on the Preservice Experience
will be used to highlight the sequencing and expectations of the core undergraduate
courses for teaching. Not only does the manual highlight organizational
issues for all involved, more importantly, it also discusses the types of
activities and experiences providing the basis for linkage to the Curriculum
Frameworks, Principles of Effective Teaching and portfolio assessment processes.
A critical and ongoing need for students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, is to have adequate preparation and awareness of college and career requirements. Through increased experiential learning, college workshops and mentoring, this partnership helps to put students' studies in context. Activities include bi-monthly workshops with information on such things as financial aid, the college application process, choosing a college, and taking part in a future teacher club. Students are exposed to information, resources, and opportunities which were not previously available to them, and because of this exposure, a significant increase in the diversity of students interested in teaching as a career is anticipated.
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Carol McFarland
160 Pearl Street
Fitchburg, Massachusetts 01420
Voice: 978.665.3010
Email: cmcfarland@fsc.edu
Redesign of Teacher Preparation Experiences:
Fitchburg State College and Fitchburg High School are working collaboratively
to redesign preservice structure and activities at the secondary level.
The FSC/FHS partnership preservice program will clarify the administrative
structure, redesign preservice activities, institutionalize the working
partnership, and enhance student, teacher and faculty effectiveness. The
program is producing a Manual on the Preservice Experience, developing a
web site and revising the core preservice courses. These revisions are directly
based on educational reform and the preservice program will provide an effective
model for bringing principles of effective teaching into practice, particularly
in an urban setting.
The partnership committee for preservice experience at the secondary level includes representatives from each department offering secondary level provisional certification, the Fitchburg State College Academic Affairs office, the college PALMS committee, Fitchburg Public School's Office of the Superintendent, and Fitchburg High School teachers as well as several representatives from other districts and private schools. This group meets regularly and holds several retreats and seminars to address the following:
- Redesign of Preservice Core Courses
- Integrated Preservice Core Courses
- Workshops and the Curriculum Frameworks
- Standardized Administrative Procedures for Preservice Program
- Portfolio Assessment
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Sibyl Brownlee
160 Pearl Street
Fitchburg, Massachusetts 01420
Voice: 978.665.3379
Email: sbrownlee@fsc.edu
Redesign of Teacher Preparation Experiences:
The principal objective of our Goals 2000 Preservice and Higher Education
Redesign of Preservice Experiences program is to redesign our teacher education
program to be more aligned with the MA Curriculum Frameworks.
Our grant program consists of Four Teams, representing Early Childhood/Special Education, Elementary Education, Middle School Education and Secondary Education. Each of these teams is composed of the appropriate college faculty/administration, Georgetown schools faculty/administration and college arts/science faculty. Each team has reviewed the present curricula in light of the Curriculum Frameworks. The teams are also in the process of studying and making recommendations for improvement in the integration of subject matter, pedagogy, methods of assessment and effective teaching strategies. Highlights of our program include opportunity to know and appreciate others and their disciplines, to investigate possibilities for the most ideal teacher education program from multiple perspectives, to discuss teaching strategies and pedagogy, and to interact with a Skillful Teacher consultant and with professionals from the Massachusetts Department of Education.
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Janet S. Arndt
255 Grapevine Road
Whenham, Massachusetts 01984
Voice: 978.927.2300 x.4315
Eisenhower Continuation Grant:
Greenfield Community College, in partnership with the Hitchcock Center
for the Environment and elementary schools in Franklin and Berkshire Counties,
has collaborated in the design of "ScienceWorks," a professional
development workshop focusing on geology as one of the earth sciences. This
workshop will better enable local elementary schools to implement the principles
contained in the Curriculum Frameworks for Science and Technology.
A total of forty teachers, from grades four through six, will be recruited to attend one of two seminars, each consisting of ten workshops for a total of thirty hours. One will be offered in the winter/spring in Franklin County with flexible scheduling according to the needs of the participants. The second seminar will be offered as a summer institute in Berkshire County. Participants may elect to receive a stipend or pay for two graduate credits from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. A team teaching approach will include an instructor from Greenfield Community College and a science educator from The Hitchcock Center for the Environment.
The ScienceWorks Seminars seek to facilitate implementation of the Science and Technology Frameworks by increasing the competency of teachers in the domain of the earth sciences. A second goal of the Seminar is to increase teacher competency in the use of inquiry-based methodology and strategies for assessing student performance. In order to achieve this goal, activities have been designed that address the following objectives:
Objective 1) To design workshop curricula following a three-pronged approach that focuses on high quality content in the earth sciences, inquiry-based methodology, and the production of curriculum resource kits to assist teachers in applying inquiry-based activities in their classrooms. Kits will include demonstration materials to be used by teachers in their classrooms and curriculum activities developed during the workshops.
Objective 2) To familiarize teachers with the Internet, there will be a one and a half hour workshop on how to use the Internet to access resources in geology.
Objective 3) To achieve broad impact by having workshop participants do an in-service workshop in their home schools demonstrating how to use the activities and materials gathered in their curriculum kits.
For more information, please contact:
Karen Green
Greenfield Community College
1 College Drive
Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301
Voice: 413.774.3131 x334
Fax: 413.773.5129
Email: green@gcc.mass.edu
Webpage: http://www.gcc.mass.edu
Beginning Teacher Induction Grant:
Learning Innovations, in collaboration with the Lynn Mentor Program,
using the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and Principles of Effective
Teaching, is working on the following goals and objectives:
Learning Innovations provided training and support for all aspects of this work. A special feature was the"trainer of trainer" session held in June of 1998, facilitated by Learning Innovations, utilizing an authentic task approach (Learning Innovations 1996 learning design). Twenty-four experienced mentor teachers participated in the three day institute. Four of the teachers had agreed to serve as trainers for the next mentor training to be conducted in July, 1998. The remaining 20 participants attended both to learn more about how to train future mentor teachers and to co-develop the curriculum and materials to be used during the July mentor training session. The resulting product is a curriculum for mentor training, including agendas, handouts, overheads, specific activities for each day of the three day training, informational materials for new teachers, a schedule of training and support events for the 1998-99 year and a checklist for mentors to use in supporting new teachers throughout the year. Following the summer training by the Lynn trainers, Learning Innovations staff will meet with the trainers to conduct a planning conference and debrief.
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Kathy Dunne
91 Montvale Avenue
Stoneham, Massachusetts 02180
Voice: 781.279.8206
Email: (Jan Phlegar) jphlegar@wested.org
Redesign of Teacher Preparation Experiences Grant:
Lesley College's and the Brookline School System's common vision and goals
for their preservice, novice and veteran teachers, and students are (1)
excellence in teaching, (2) high expectations for all students, (3) collaborative
relationships, (4) the integration of theory and practice (5) life-long
learning, and (5) reflection and evaluation. These common goals have grown
out of a highly successful ten year Pre-K through 9th grade teacher preparation
program, the Lesley College-Brookline Internship Program (LBIP). This proposal
builds upon LBIP's past accomplishments and gives LBIP the resources to
carry out the goals of the Curriculum Frameworks and the Principles of Effective
Teaching through a thoughtful redesign of the preservice and field experiences
in Lesley and Brookline.
The LBLP represents ten years of successful collaboration in preservice education and ensures that the necessary administrative and organizational relationships are in place to carry out this proposal's program. Since 1987, LBIP students have earned a Master of Education degree and certification in Early Childhood Education, Elementary Education, Special Education or a joint certification in Elementary and Special Education. Participants complete course work while teaching in the Brookline Public Schools for two years under the supervision of a mentor teacher and two Lesley College faculty members who serve as the on site coordinatorsone Early Childhood Coordinator and one Special Education/Elementary Coordinator. The interns work in their assigned classrooms everyday and take classes on the Lesley College campus two late afternoons or evenings a week, and one afternoon a week in Brookline. Currently, there are 21 interns working in seven of Brookline's eight elementary schools.
Since receiving the Code 501 grant funds, the Lesley-Brookline Internship Program has redesigned its preservice curriculum to strengthen its compliance with the Curriculum Frameworks and the Principals of Effective Teaching through the following:
A. Training for Mentor TeachersTwo workshops on "Successful Mentoring"; a stipend of $300 was given to each Mentor.
B. Training for Internsdetailed information on education reform, curriculum, and assessment, Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and Brookline's Learning Standards were studied. Interns were invited to Department of Education meetings and to Margaret McLaughlin's June lst presentation.
C. The Redesign of Preservice CurriculumInterns visited, observed and participated in demonstrations by various Brookline teachers, Interns wrote Integrated units of Study, Interns matched MA Curriculum Frameworks/Brookline Learning Standards to all of their lesson plans.
D. Increasing Opportunities for Collaboration and ObservationsMentors and Interns had release time to observe each other and colleagues. SPED and Early Childhood Mentors and Interns met together to decide how to spend the $500 for their schools.
E. Increasing Self-Evaluation and Reflection.
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Marcia Bromfield
74 Wendell Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
Voice: 617.349.8396
Email: mbromfie@mail.lesley.edu
Redesign of Teacher Preparation Experiences Grant:
The Goals 2000 Professional Development Schools Project is a collaboration
of three colleges in or near Cambridge that focuses on enhancing and integrating
the pre-service field experiences with in-service professional development
activities. The CPS and three college partners work collaboratively to develop
and address their common vision for teacher preparation and for professional
development of experienced educators. The project involves:
The work is carried out in school sites by teams consisting of the school administrator and teacher along with the college's school of education faculty liaison at the individual PDS. Also, a series of educational forums bring together the teams from all of the PDS schools to discuss and address common issues. Discussion begun in the forums is continued in small, informal study groups across schools.
Classroom teachers support the redesign of the pre-service program and college teacher preparation courses at the same time as they redesign their own curricula to be in alignment with the state curriculum frameworks. Several public school teachers participate in the college pre-service courses as instructors or guest lecturers.
The individual PDS teams support the implementation of the field placements by participating in the design of new models that involve:
1) creating yearlong paid interships of pre-service teachers
2) linking pre-practicum and practicum experiences
3) incorporating a total school experience into the pre-practicum experience
4) incorporating a total school experience into the pre-practicum experience that includes non-classroom personnel such as the principal, library media specialist, & technology specialist
5) providing opportunities for pre-service teachers to participate in observations of a variety of classrooms and teachers (the Rounds model)
6) allowing pre-service teachers to lead the class regularly and conduct all manner of professional teacher tasks such as parent conferences and assessments of students with social and emotional issues
7) freeing up the classroom teacher to pursue work outside the class such as training, curriculum design and research (known as Alternative Professional Time).
The project is coordinated by a collaborative management team that includes
a representative of each of the participating colleges and the CPS Deputy
Superintendent and the CPS Director of Development and Assessment. The Group
Meets to plan the forums, support the individual PDS teams and identify
issues and strategies which can promote the PDS goals and initiatives.
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Marcia Bromfield
74 Wendell Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
Voice: 617.349.8396
Email: mbromfie@mail.lesley.edu
Redesign of Teacher Preparation Experiences Grant:
In the Fall, 1996, Massachusetts College of Liberal arts and three neighboring
school districts (North Adams; Lanesborough; Clarksburg) scheduled meetings
to explore opportunities for more formal collaboration, especially for examining
current issues in preservice education. One outcome was the establishment
of a Professional Development Team:
Jane AllenPrincipal, Clarksburg Elementary School
Ellen BarberAssistant Professor, Education Department, MCLA
Susanne ChandlerChair, Education Department, MCLA
Carol ColantuonoPrincipal, Brayton Elementary School
Elaine C. CollinsDean of Academic Studies, MCLA
Thomas GillolyPrincipal, Lanesborough Elementary School
Jill PompiTeacher, Sullivan Elementary School
Linda ReardonTeacher, Sullivan Elementary School
Sharon RenfrewTeacher, Lanesborough Elementary School
Joseph RoggeSuperintendent, North Adams Public Schools
Stephen SmachettiPrincipal, Sullivan Elementary School
Three major assumptions evolved as the Partnership's collective vision of teacher preparation:
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Elaine Collins
Church Street
North Adams, Massachusetts 01247
Voice: 413.662.5207
Email: ecollins@mcla.mass.edu
Eisenhower Continuation Grant:
This year's program consisted of two strands. The first strand was a series
of twelve classes that met on Thursday afternoons from 3:456:20 p.m.
at Elms College in Chicopee. The classes
were led by Doug Kimball, director of Laughing Brook Education Center and
Wildlife Sanctuary in Hampden, Massachusetts and Tony Symasko, Teacher/Naturalist
of the Hampshire Sanctuaries' Arcadia Wildlife Sancturary. The focus was
on the pedagogy of teaching science and mathematics in the twenty-first
century. Featured topics included the Massachusetts "Science and Technology"
and "Mathamatics" Curriculum Frameworks, the PALMS Approach to
teaching and learning of mathematics and science, examples of alternative
assessment, guidelines for cooperative learning, the formation of open-ended
questions, "Principles of Effective Teaching," and the use of
thematic investigations.
The second strand consisted of seven Saturday Sessions from 9:30 a.m.3:30 p.m., November-May. Teachers had the opportunity of participating in the Arcadia section (intended for teaches of students in grades 6-12) or Laughing Brook section (intended for teachers of students in grades K-5) series of classes. The focus of the Saturday sessions was to acquaint the participants with the world of nature that can be found in their schoolyards, neighborhoods, and nearby parks, and to discover the natural tie-in these special places have with the world of math and science. The teachers participated in sanctuary explorations, classroom and outdoor activities, and the direct interpretation of wildlife species and ecosystems while preparing to use their schoolyard as an outdoor learning laboratory.
The participants of this year's program include 27 teachers from 23 schools throughout the Connecticut Valley. Some of the teachers attended this program for PDP's while other took it to receive graduate credit.
Doug Kimball, Director of Laughing Brook Education Center and Wildlife Sanctuary served as the Project Coordinator/Educcator. It is through him that participants were able to receive graduate credit at the Elms College in Chicopee, the higher education partner in this project. Anthony Symasko, Teacher/Naturalist at Hampshire Sanctuaries; Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary, acted as lead educator with theArcadia strand. Cynthia Frere, Teacher/Naturalist also of Arcadia, was an assistant educator of their portion of the program and Jane McCarry, Education Coordinator served as the Laughing Brook assistant educator.
For more information, please contact:
Mr. Douglas Kimball
Laughing Brook Education Center
793 Main Street
Hampden, Massachusetts 01036
Voice: 413.566.8034
Fax: 413.566.5366
Redesign of Teacher Preparation Experiences Grant:
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards has developed ways
of testing what teachers actually do and how well they do it. The goal is
to set high and rigorous standards of teaching practice and to identify
what teachers need to know and be able to teach at an accomplished level.
Framingham State College and the Merrimack Education Center created a partnership
to establish a cadre of Framingham State College cooperating teachers who
are certified by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards.
These teachers can then serve as role models for student teachers and manage
classrooms in which exemplary teaching takes place. In addition, college
faculty worked together to review the National Board Standards and assessment
practices to align with pre-service teacher preparation at Framingham State
College.
A collaborative school-college structure was created which included classroom teachers and college faculty. The National Standards were used as a framework for understanding and talking about teacher learning. Several all-day workshops were held for the college staff, in which faculty became familiar with the National Standards, examined their present courses and revised activities and expectations to more closely align with exemplary teaching practice. Concurrently, nine classroom teachers from schools within the College's service area were enrolled in the program to gain National Board Certification. These teachers met in monthly seminars to discuss progress toward certification and to participate in a dialogue with National Board certified teachers and college faculty. The classrooms of the newly certified teachers will provide an exemplary setting for aspiring and beginning teachers.
For more information, please contact:
Mr. Joseph Caruso
Framingham State College
100 State Street Box 901
Framingham, Massachusetts 01701
Voice: 508.626.4592
Dr. Leslie Bernal
Merrimack Education Center
101 Mill Road
Chelmsford, Massachusetts 01824
Voice: 978.256.3985 x524
Recruting for a Diverse Teaching Profession:
Middlesex Community College (MCC) and the Lowell Public Schools (LPS)
will design and implement a one-year program of recruitment, assessment,
career counseling, academic advising, and developmental education for paraprofessionals.
A specific target of the program is to increase participation in college-credit
courses by linguistic and ethnic minorities.
Project Goals
1. To recruit an ethnically and linguistically diverse group of 50 people who aspire to teach in the Lowell Public Schools.
- Information sessions at cluster schools will be organized to discuss program with potential participants.
- Promotional material describing the activities will be created and distributed.
2. To assess the readiness of interested paraprofessionals to begin college studies.
- Organize academic assessment tests for paraprofessionals.
3. To offer group and individual career and academic counseling to all participants.
- Develop format for counseling sessions including transcript assessment, life planning, and goal setting.
- Organize one-to-one counseling appointments.
4. To prepare participants for college studies by having them complete a 15 hour, one credit, incoming-student seminar based upon a successful MCC freshman seminar and focused on topics related to achieving success in college.
- Revise seminar to tailor it for paraprofessionals. Offer two sections of a seminar.
5. To deliver developmental education courses in English as a Second Language for Liberal Arts Majors, Basic Writing, Fundamentals of Math, and Reading Strategies to all students whose assessment test results indicate a need for this coursework.
- Adjust developmental coursework and teaching strategies.
- Organize a calendar of coursework to enable paraprofessionals to complete developmental education prerequisites prior to September, 1998.
6. To enroll a minimum of 15 participants in "Extending the Bridge."
- Hold a recognition ceremony for participants.
- Disseminate information and make individual contacts with potential participants in "Extending the Bridge."
Key Participants
Pamela R. Edington, Project Director, Dean of Social Science and Human
Services, MCC.
Heidi Dehisle, Program Coordinator, Paraprofessional initiative, MCC.
Mary Ann Sirnensen, Coordinator of Staff Development Programs, Lowell Public
School Dept.
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Pamela Edington
Middlesex Community College
Springs Road
Bedford House
Bedford, Massachusetts 01730
Voice: 617.280.3200
Email: edingtonp@admin.middlesex.cc.ma.us
Continuation Grant:
During the academic year of 1996-1997, SMT developed and implemented the
course Conceptual Foundations for the Teaching of Calculus (CFTC)
to allow teachers of grades 712 to investigate the mathematical ideas
underlying the concepts of calculus. Using small group instruction, computer
program explorations, and writing as a tool for learning, the course also
provided the opportunity for teachers to learn mathematics in a manner consistent
with the NCTM Standards and the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks.
As a follow-up to that program and at the request of the participants, SMT developed a seminar focused on Trigonometry in order to continue to offer teachers the opportunity to investigate the mathematical ideas of calculus. The new CFTC course will be offered to teachers who participated in last years program but will also be designed to be accessible to teachers who did not attend the previous class. Within the examination of the topic of trigonometry, course participants will revisit the concepts and ideas that had been explored in the previous course, allowing teachers who did not participate last year to become familiar with the ideas that had been introduced in the previous course. Teachers of middle school as well as secondary school are invited to participate. While the text, Calculus in Context by Callahan and Hoffman published by W.H. Freeman and Co., will serve as a reference for the work, the course will be responsive to the instructional needs of the participants.
The Mathematics Education Reform Administrators' Seminar SummerMath for Teachers will continue to offer administrators the opportunity to meet and discuss topics related to staff development and the teaching of mathematics as well as to inform administrators about SMT program activities. For the 1997-1998 academic year, The Mathematics Education Reform Administrators' Seminar meetings will involve three half-day meetings which will be dedicated to viewing and discussing the video component of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study.
For more information, please contact:
Virginia Bastable
302 Shattuck Hall
South Hadley, Massachusetts 01075
Voice: 413.538.2071
Fax: 413.538.2002
Email: vbastabl@mhc.mtholyoke.edu
Redesign of Teacher Preparation Experience Grant:
Infusing Geometric and Algebraic Thinking into the Elementary Curriculum
(IGA) was designed to increase the mathematical content knowledge of both
pre-service and in-service teachers and to strengthen the relationship between
the academic coursework of pre-service teachers and their field-based experiences.
Principal Objectives:
1. The development of curriculum materials to enhance the pre-service program by providing mathematics activities and teacher-written narratives will allow undergraduates to explore the topics of geometry and algebra first for themselves and then to investigate how children develop these ideas over time. These materials will include samples of student work and rich descriptions of classroom dialogue.
2. The creation of a cadre of teachers committed to implementing mathematics instruction in their classrooms that is based on inquiry and discourse and methods that will support the development of children's mathematical reasoning.
Program Activities:
1. A seminar: Teachers from the partnership schools are participating in a seminar meeting approximately twice a month for the entire school year. In this seminar, teachers have the opportunity to investigate for themselves the mathematics of geometry and algebra, examine research papers and teacher-written narratives to study the way children develop these modes of thinking, and then investigate results as they work with their own students on similar problems.
2. IGA Teachers/Undergraduates Shared Sessions: In order to provide opportunities for these two groups to interact on an intellectual basis, IGA planned to support shared sessions between the IGA teachers and the MHC undergraduates enrolled in Educational Psychology
3. Materials Development: IGA Project staff will use the materials created by IGA teachers and develop two brief units, one in geometry and one in algebra. These units are intended to be used as supplementary materials for MHC Pre-service students. Each set of materials will include a mathematics activity, teacher-written cases describing elementary students working on the same set of ideas, and examples of student work. (Developing Mathematical Ideas, now available from Cuiseniare Dale Seymour, presents a coherent collection of such material investigating the way children develop ideas involving number and operation).
Each set of materials will include a math activity, samples of student work from various grade levels, and cases written by IGA teachers in which they present the mathematical thinking of their elementary students.
For more information, please contact:
Virginia Bastable
302 Shattuck Hall
South Hadley, Massachusetts 01075
Voice: 413.538.2071
Fax: 413.538.2002
Email: vbastabl@mhc.mtholyoke.edu
Beginning Teacher Induction:
The Beginning Teacher Induction/Mentoring grant project is a partnership
between Northern Essex Community College and a consortium of the Haverhill,
Methuen, Lawrence and Dracut Public Schools and the Pentucket Regional School
District. The members of this partnership are working collaboratively to
plan and implement a Teacher Induction/Mentoring Program which will provide
support, supervision and evaluation of new teachers through mentoring activities
during their first year of teaching. The beginning teachers targeted are
all elementary, middle and secondary teachers of science and science-related
courses. This program will help the beginning teachers to:
For more information, please contact:
Mr. Michael Pelletier
Elliott Way
Haverhill, Massachusetts 01830-2399.
Voice: 978.556.3878
Email: mpelletier@necc.mass.edu
Recruiting for a Diverse Teaching Profession Grant Project:
The Recruiting for a Diverse Teaching Profession grant project is a partnership
between Northern Essex Community College and the Haverhill, Methuen, Lawrence
and Dracut Public Schools and the Pentucket Regional School District. This
program is designed to:
For more information, please contact:
Mr. Michael Pelletier
Elliott Way
Haverhill, Massachusetts 01830-2399.
Voice: 978.556.3878
Email: mpelletier@necc.mass.edu
Redesign of Teacher Preparation Experience Grant:
The Northampton Schools/Elms College Redesign of Preservice Experiences
project is examining current preservice programs for teachers in training,
in order to more closely follow the Massachusetts Education Reform Act,
the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, the Principles of Effective Teaching,
and "Model Assessment Strategies."
Seven teams of faculty from Northampton schools, the Elms Education Department and the Elms Arts and Sciences Departments are modifying and redesigning current preservice teacher preparation course requirements and syllabi. This redesign includes specific references to the learning standards in the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, the Principles of Effective Teaching, and "model assessment strategies." Elms faculty also are using suggestions from Northampton teachers to modify the required and recommended liberal arts core curriculum for education majors. In addition, project participants are reviewing the curriculum realignment initiative in the Northampton Public Schools to ensure grade-to-grade continuity and consistency with the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. At this time there are 18 curriculum committees, K-12, realigning the entire Northampton curriculum to address the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, the Principles of Effective Teaching, and "Model Assessment Strategies.
Dr. Donna Harlan, project director, and Dr. Anne Harrison, project evaluator, will present draft recommendations to the Elms education and liberal arts faculty on May 8, 1998 and to Northampton teachers and administrators on May 30, 1998. The two colloquia will highlight the year's work of a core group of 20 Elms faculty and 131 Northampton faculty and administrators.
During Summer, 1998, Northampton participants will complete Core Curriculum Documents and continue to develop Expanded Unit Documents. Elms participants will complete revisions to program requirements and course syllabi, subject to approval by the Elms College Curriculum Committee.
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Donna Harlan
291 Springfield Street
Chicopee, Massachusetts 01013
Voice: 413.594.2761 x.359
Recruting for a Diverse Teaching Profession:
A. Planning - Due to the partners pre-existing initiatives, the
following planning and mechanisms have already been designed:
1 . Minority teacher recruitment program
2. District Based Teacher Certification Program with intensive Pre-service Academy including the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks
3. Beginning Teacher Induction and Mentor Program in Teaching
4. Teacher Evaluation Program based upon the Principals of Effect
Therefore, the planning required for this initiative will be minimum.
B. Priorities and Activities - This initiative will promote the early identification and selection of minority teacher candidates who are recent graduates from the Colleges of the Worcester Consortium or career-changing minority professionals who possess bachelor degrees, with at least a minor concentration in a core secondary subject area. This initiative will incorporate the District Based Teacher Certification Program, which begins with an intensive pre-service and will include sessions on effective planning, instruction, and classroom development of a professional portfolio. Teacher candidates in the program are evaluated in accordance with the Principals of Effective Teaching and have their portfolios evaluated by a credentialing committee, which may include the mentors, the coordinator and/or representatives from the Worcester Public Schools, the Alliance for Education, and the Consortium of Worcester Colleges. The District Based Teacher Certification Program is a year long program which results in Advanced Standing Certification for participants already employed by a school district. Mentors, retention support systems and tuition scholarships will be available for participants who are employed by a school district. The Alliance for Education will administer the program through its Professional Development Institute in consultation with the Worcester Public Schools' Office of Staff and Program Development. The coordinator will be accountable, to both institutions.
C. Participants:
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Louise Clark
291 Spring Street
Chicopee, Massachusetts 01013
Voice: 508.754.9425
Recruiting for a Diverse Teaching Profession:
1. Partnership Overview
The Salem, Lynn, East Boston, and Lawrence school districts and Salem State College have established a college/school district partnership to recruit minority students, both youth and adults of promise, into the teaching profession. Newman, (1994 8 asserts that nationwide in the 1990's, "one in five students is from a family living in poverty. Thirty percent of students are African, Hispanic, Asian or Native American, and nearly 40% will be minorities by the turn of the century. By contrast, only 13% of public school teachers are now minorities, and some studies show that the percentage of minorities among newly hired teachers is even smaller"). Over the past two decades, the student population in the communities of this proposed partnership have become extremely diverse; for example, in the Lynn School System, 52% of the student population consists of children of minorities. According to the December 15, 1991 edition of the Boston Globe, all four of these school districts were among the nineteen school districts statewide which has a Hispanic population of 10% or more: Lawrence (70.9%); Boston (20.9%); Salem (18.2%); and Lynn (15.4%). These percentages have only increased in the past few years. It is important, therefore, that the teaching population reflects this growing diverse student population. "You have to have a critical mass of teachers who are representatives of the background from which students come or who have an understanding in their bones of them" (Rose 11).
2. Program Summary
The school districts of Salem, Lynn, East Boston, and Lawrence, and Salem State College propose to continue and further support a two-tiered program to address this problem. At each school site a Future Educators of America Model Program will be formed to recruit diverse students of promise into the teaching field along with a Program for Paraprofessionals, Substitute Teachers, and Volunteers of color or linguistic diversity, or members of a group who are otherwise underrepresented in the education profession. The goals of the programs will be to recruit, educate, retain, and support participants from each school district in their endeavors to become professional teachers. The two-tiered program will include the following:
Future Educators of America Model Program:
Twenty or more students of diversity from each district who have been recommended
for the program by faculty and staff will be paired with Salem State College
members of the SSC Future Educators of America Club and a mentor teacher/staff
person from the local school district. Initial meetings and activities will
be held to support these students, each school district will plan and host
a major activity concerning teaching for all the other districts, participate
in existing SSC minority programs with special focus on the education profession,
and be involved in "hands on" volunteer opportunities in their
school, such as mentoring, tutoring, and recruiting other minority students.
Students will be offered opportunities to observe and explore exemplary
teaching in their school (Last year the collaborative was able to establish
2 new model programs in Lynn and Salem, support the Teach Boston group at
East Boston, and start a group in Lawrence this September, 1998).
Minority Adult Support Program:
Six adults of diversity in each school district will from a collaborative
to be informed and educated about the teaching professional and how to gain
access. Monthly workshops will be held introducing the participants to the
profession of teaching. The minority adults will also help support and participate
in the Future Educators of America Model Program in the individual school
districts. In addition, each adult participant will be offered, free of
charge, an opportunity to take an appropriate undergraduate or graduate
course at Salem State College. A goal of the program is to have each participant
develop a plan of study and be enrolled in a college program to pursue a
career path in education (Last year the collaborative was able to serve
more than 60 adults in this program).
For more information, please contact:
Mr. A. Thomas Billings
352 Lafayette Street
Salem, Massachusetts 01970
Voice: 978.741.6246 x.7043
Continuation Grant:
The Curriculum Frameworks for math, science, and health establish inquiry
as fundamental for learning and teaching in the classroom. Under the Frameworks,
educators are challenged to create a climate of discovery in their classrooms
and to use real-life situations to facilitate learning of core principles.
Funding provided through the Dwight D. Eisenhower Professional Development
Program supported a graduate course at Simmons which engaged educators in
sharing their experience with and expanding their use of the HealthNet curricula
to meet state education standards in math, science and technology, and health.
HealthNet is an existing electronic networks of teachers, school nurses, students, and health professionals who are using telecommunications and monitoring projects as a means to integrate math, science, and health education.
A collaborative endeavor of the Simmons College Graduate School for Health Studies, the Department of Biology, and the Department of Education and Human Services, HealthNet works with elementary school educators and nurses on monitoring projects related to children's health behaviors. HealthNet has a three-fold mission: to enhance health education at the elementary school level; to integrate health, math, and science education; and to maximize partnerships between teachers and school nurses. HealthNet projects include Attendance, Food For Thought, Hygiene, Sweet Tooth, Rest & Relaxation, and Exercise.
All participants enrolled in the 4.0 credit Simmons Graduate Course, Education 440: "Educational Telecommunications and Technology." Participants attended four Saturday workshops, completed additional assignments on-line and in their classrooms as they implemented a minimum of two HealthNet projects. The workshops provided time for intensive, collaborative work in creating grade-level units which will be published on the HealthNet web site this summer for all teachers to use. The 22 participants included 3 preservice teachers, 2 school nurses, 9 teachers new to the HealthNet model, and 7 teachers who had worked with HealthNet for at least one year. The workshops emphasized the following:
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Randi Lite
HealthNet Program Director and Instructor of Biology
300 The Fenway
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Voice: 617.521.2660
Email: rlite@vmsvax.simmons.edu
Webpage: http://whale.simmons.edu/healthnet
Beginning Teacher Induction Grant:
The Northampton Public Schools have a staff of approximately 280 (FTE) teachers
assigned to six school sites. Less than a mile beyond the city's downtown
center sits Smith College and our two institutions have enjoyed a century-long
partnership in the area of teacher preparation. Currently, it is typical
for the College's student teachers to complete one semester of their practicum
at the Smith College Campus School (a K-6 laboratory school located on campus)
and spend a second semester in a Northampton Public School classroom. This
proposal seeks a fourth year of funding support to continue our collaborative
development of an exemplary Beginning Teacher Induction/Mentoring Program.
Why is this program needed?
This proposed induction program for beginning educators (teachers who have
been in the school system for less than three years and therefore, have
yet to attain professional status) and preservice teachers is needed for
several important reasons.
Partnership Overview
As an outgrowth of project activities funded by both the Goals 2000: Preservice
Education grant that the district was awarded three years ago and the Goals
2000 Beginning Teacher Induction Programs grants that were received from
the Department over the past two years, the Northampton school system has
conducted a pilot mentorship program which has involved, since the Spring
of 1997, approximately 40 Northampton teachers and preservice 10 teachers
from Smith College. This program is described below in more detail.
Program Summery
We seek a joint program development grant to help support this teacher induction
program during the upcoming academic year. The major portion of requested
grant funds will enable the Northampton Public Schools to increase the amount
of release time provided to the mentors and sponsor a mini-institute for
new and preservice teachers that will begin in September. Also, grant funds
will be used to pay an honorarium to a Supervisor of preservice teachers
from the College and stipends to two mentor teachers from the district for
their continued Program planning efforts and their later involvement in
a series of monthly afterschool meetings with program participants.
Teachers who participate in these monthly Focus Meetings will be compensated for their time at an established hourly rate. In addition, continued funding from the Department will permit beginning and preservice teachers who are involved in the induction program to receive a collection of professional books and articles that have been specifically selected to strengthen their understanding of two focal points of the mentoring experience - literacy learning and constructivist theories about teaching and learning.
Currently, the district has eight mentors or "teacher leaders" who have all completed an intensive two years of training under the supervision of New Zealand educator, Dr. Jan Duncan. The first year was devoted to helping them develop an in-depth understanding of a teaching and learning model designed to enhance the ability of staff to meet the individual needs of the diverse range of student learners in their classroom; the second year of training concentrated on assisting these teacher educators in acquiring the technical skills (questioning techniques, observational and analytic abilities) to become more effective in their role as mentors.
In general terms, the teaching and learning model seeks to individualize student instruction as much as possible and to build on the strength of what a specific child already knows. The model emphasizes a continuing cycle of: assessing where a child is by collecting samples of their work; evaluating this assessment data to make an informed judgment about what the child can do; planning the student's next learning step within their "zone of proximal development" or grasp so that the teaching point will be something that can further the youngster's present level of understanding; and teaching from that point of need. The cycle continues with further assessment and evaluation to determine what learning has occurred and the planning and teaching of the next learning step. A central aspect of this model is building the responsibility in students for their own learning. Each morning, students prepare their individual learning plan for the day which is shared with their classroom teacher.
For the 1998-99 academic year, two of Northampton's teacher leaders will be provided with a maximum of 20% release time to mentor colleagues. Each teacher leader will support the learning of anywhere from four to eight fellow teachers by meeting with them on a regular basis (either weekly or biweekly) and observing their classroom practice before sitting down together for a half-hour instructional dialogue. The dialogue is centered on the teacher's written action plan which indicates the next learning step that the classrooms teacher wishes to consider at this point in time. New understandings that are developed by the teacher as a result of the dialogue session are noted by the teacher leader in a written summary statement. The overall goal of these pairings is to assist teachers in their development of theory-driven practice. This is an extremely clinical approach to mentoring, which requires a great deal of work and study on the part of both the teacher leader and their colleague cast in the learner role.
The Northampton district intends to offer an Induction Program, based on this mentoring model, beginning this Fall. All newly-hired teachers will be invited to participate. Smith College preservice teachers, who are placed in Northampton classrooms where the instructional model is being faithfully implemented, will also have the opportunity to receive mentoring support from a teacher leader. Therefore, the participants in Proposed grant-funded activities include: the two teacher leaders, the 14 new teachers recently hired in Northampton, the handful of beginning educators who have applied to receive regular mentoring support from these teacher leaders, the preservice teachers from Smith College who are being mentored, and a Supervisor of preservice teachers from the College.
The grant program priorities, which will be addressed by such activities, include-
The Associate Superintendent will be responsible for preparing the written Induction Program Plan and formally presenting it to the School Committee in the early Fall.
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Donna Harlan
212 Main Street
W. Hampton, Massachusetts 01060
Voice: 413.587.1322
Email: harlan@javanet.com
Redesign of Teacher Preparation Experiences:
Teachers throughout Massachusetts are studying the Curriculum Frameworks
and looking for ways to incorporate the tenets of these documents into their
classrooms. Similarly, college students recognize that they will be responsible
for the Frameworks first in their practicum experience and then as professionals
in the future. This Springfield College proposal under the Eisenhower Professional
Development Program is unique in that it uses Ecology to model the content
and the pedagogy of the Frameworks to inform both preservice and inservice
elementary teachers. Student teachers from Springfield College and veteran
teachers from Springfield Public Schools will have an opportunity in this
inquiry-based approach to be learners, to reflect upon that experience and
then to collaborate in translating that experience into their own elementary
classrooms.
This project for Year 3 proposes to build upon the first two years by supporting the efforts of Year 1 and 2 teachers to integrate the Curriculum Frameworks into in their ongoing curriclum development. The goals for 1997-98 that will expand and enhance the project are summarized as follows:
Science is often a subject that elementary teachers are reticent to teach because they lack the background in the area. With the opportunity to be students themselves and take risks in a nurturing environment, these inservice professionals will become more confident in fostering science literacy. The preservice college students will have an opportunity to have positive experiences both in being learners themselves and in presenting this important subject to elementary students. This course, informed by the Frameworks, will allow them to be more confident and comfortable in appropriately facilitating the learning of science concepts. Finally, this project will continue to foster a network of engaged professionals from college and the school systems who can support one another after the integrated preservice-inservice professional training.
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Robert Barkman
Springfield College
273 Alden Street
Springfield, Mass. 01109
Voice: 413.748.3000
Email: rbarkman@spfldcol.edu
Redesign of Teacher Preparation Experiences Grant:
The purpose of the grant is to support existing and create new Professional
Development School relationships among urban, suburban and college learning
centered communities in the preparation of new teachers, the support of
children's learning, continuing professional development and practice-based
inquiry. Cooperating teachers from urban and suburban schools who train
preservice candidates from Springfield College meet monthly after school
to revise the expectations for preservice candidates that are responsive
to the Principles of Effective Teaching and identify specific performance-based
measures for assessment of the prepracticum and practicum experiences.
The goals of the grant are to improve student performance in reading and writing in our schools, to give teachers time, to examine the Curriculum Frameworks and the Principles of Effective -Teaching, to evaluate authentic assessments for best practice, and to revise the Fieldwork Handbook for preservice and cooperating teachers.
The implementation brings urban, suburban and college faculty together in Professional Development School relationships to improve the teaching of preservice candidates and to integrate the MA Frameworks into the schools and into the college curricula. Coordination and leadership at the schools is provided by three School-based educators. Twenty five teachers from the three schools (two suburban, one urban) work with preservice candidates in prepractica and practica fieldwork placements. The preservice candidates have expanded opportunities of school-based observation, course work, field practice, coaching and formative assessment. The teacher education faculty from Springfield College coordinates the PDS project, participates in after-school workshops, organizes collaborative meetings between schools and spends time each week at each school with the preservice candidates, the teachers and the administrators.
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Mary C. Allen
Springfield College
306 Judd Street
Springfield, Mass. 01109
Voice: 413.748.3356
Email: mallen@spfldcol.edu
Recruiting for a Diverse Teaching Profession Grant:
Springfield Public Schools (SPS) and Springfield College (SC) have been
working in collaboration to recruit and train a diverse teaching work force
for the past four years. Three projects already in existence (SPIRIT/ MIND/SAGE)
are directly related to the purpose and priorities of the Code 517 grant,
Recruiting for a Diverse Teaching Profession. Support from the Goals 2000/Eisenhower
grant has enabled us to expand and build upon these existing projects.
This past year, a weekend bachelor's degree teacher certification program was developed for paraprofessionals and career changers. This program is co-sponsored by Springfield College's School of Human Services and Education Department (SHSE). As a result of this grant we have been able to do a number of activities; one of these was to provide a "Perspectives on Teaching" workshop for 28 Springfield Public Schools paraprofessionals. At the present time, 18 of these paraprofessionals have applied to begin the SHSE teacher certification program part time in September (GIB) and full time in January, 1999.
In addition to the full Implementation of the SHSE bachelors degree program for paraprofessionals and career changers, Springfield College and Springfield Public Schools have combined to support the following projects:
There is a tremendous need to work together in communities to recruit and train a diverse teaching force. This is a difficult task that is very complex and needs to be sustained for years to come. The funds provided through this Goals 2000/Eisenhower Code 517 grant help support the sustainability of these projects and the multifaceted approach already being pursued through the SC/SPS partnership to increase the number of teachers of color in Springfield.
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Linda C. Delano
Springfield College
306 Judd Street
Springfield, Mass. 01109
Voice: 413.748.3000
Fax: 413-748-3146
Email: ldelano@spfldcol.edu
Dr. Sharon J. Washington
Springfield College
306 Judd Street
Springfield, Mass. 01109
Voice: 413.748.3663
Email: swashington@spfldcol.edu
Redesign of Teacher Preparation Experiences Grant:
Springfield Technical Community College (STCC), in partnership with the
University of Massachusetts School of Education, the University of Massachusetts-University
Without Walls (UWW), and the Springfield Public Schools have launched an
A.S. to B.S. Teacher Preservice Program. A pilot, funded in part by a three-year
grant from the U.S. Department of Education, has enrolled 65 adult learners
in the 1997-98 academic year, including 25 minority students who are teacher
aides with an average of 10 years of experience in city schools. The model
represents a locally based, systemic structure for training teachers who
will work in urban schools in the year 2000. It links, both physically and
electronically, a major urban school system and public higher education
to address several key issues: the need for a higher proportional representation
of teachers of color in urban schools; and the need to develop teachers
who possess solid general education competency and who are also multiculturally
sensitive, technologically competent and able to help children cope with
the complex social issues facing them. The project will implement a multicultural,
learning-community approach and a technology-enriched curriculum and will
operate using the expertise of both teacher-mentors and college faculty.
The work experiences of the participants will also be integrated into the
program; experiential credit will be facilitated via the UMASS University
Without Walls program. Credit for students participating in inservice activities
(including Curriculum Frameworks) will also be applied to degree completion.
An alternative certification model will be developed.
Resources from the Eisenhower Program were sought: 1) to help support pre-enrollment coordination, outreach, and screening activities; 2) to revise existing courses to include integrated academics, Curriculum Frameworks, and applied learning theory; 3) to support the student's hands-on exposure to technology as an integral part of the liberal arts and sciences design.
The Urban Preservice Degree Articulation in Teacher Education (UPDATE) program has 65 paraprofessionals enrolled: 63 are from Springfield, two are from Holyoke, and 50% of enrolled UPDATE Scholars are from an ethnic minority group. Currently, 28 UPDATE Scholars are taking Spring 1998 courses at STCC. Recruitment efforts have included: an UPDATE Program Open House; a Professional Development Workshop: "Getting on Track to Become a Teacher"; OneStop Enrollment Workshop; Summer Math Sampler: Meet Your Instructors; and Sample Some New-Age Math; flyers, mailings, and questionnaires.
Our next biggest challenge will be to retain these individuals so their educational goals will be met.
Twelve Education Transfer Option courses are in the process of being redesigned. Redesign goals include:
The courses are:
| MM081 | Elementary Algebra I | 3 |
J.M. Magnier |
| MM091 | Elementary Algebra II | 3 |
J. McDonald |
| MM123 | Math for Early Child/Elem Teachers | 3 |
L. Brewer |
| LD099 | Review for College Writing | 3 |
F.D.Johnson |
| LE100 | English Composition I | 3 |
H. Spector |
| LE305 | Children's Literature | 3 |
K. Andrew |
| LF121 | Spanish I | 3 |
J.Zenor |
| BD103 | Microcomputer Applications | 3 |
Z. Haddad |
| NP100 | General Psychology | 3 |
T. Cooke |
| NP305 | Child Psychology | 3 |
T. Cooke |
| N1100 | American Government | 3 |
P. Tigue |
| MP125 | Physical Science | 4 |
Z. Haddad |
Liberal Arts-Education Transfer Option
The Education Transfer curriculum is designed to parallel the first two
years of the School of Education curriculum at the University of Massachusetts.
Students in this core will have dual admission with the University as long
as a 2.5 QPA is maintained. The minimum requirements for the degree are
62 semester hours (21 courses), a minimum cumulative quality point average
of 2.0, including 6 credits of English composition, 18 credits in the humanities,
15 credits in the social sciences (18 for early childhood education and
development), 13-14 credits in math and natural sciences, 6 credits in an
arts or science major, and a 1 credit education internship. Upon successful
completion of the requirements for this program as listed below, the degree
of Associate of Arts in Liberal Arts Transfer will be awarded.
| Semester | One | ||
| LE100 | English Composition I | 3 |
credits |
| MM123 | Math for Early Child/Elem Teachers | 3 |
credits |
| NP100 | General Psychology | 3 |
credits |
| XLAB1 | Lab Science Elective 1 | 4 |
credits |
| XSOC1 | History Elective | 3 |
credits |
| Semester One | 16 |
credits |
| Intersession | |||
| LT100 | Education Internship | 1 |
credit |
| Intersession | 1 |
credit |
| Semester | Two | ||
| LE200 | Composition II - Intro to Literature | 3 |
credits |
| UB142 | Nutrition | 3 |
credits |
| NS100 | Introduction to Sociology OR | ||
| XHUM1 | Humanities Elective 2 | 3 |
credits |
| ZSOCI | History Elective | 3 |
credits |
| Semester Two | 15 |
credits |
| Semester | Three | ||
| IM03 | Fundamentals of Speech | 3 |
credits |
| IM05 | Childrens Literature OR | ||
| XHUM1 | Humanities Elective 3 | 3 |
credits |
| LF121 | Elementary Spanish I 4 | 3 |
credits |
| NP305 | Child Psychology | 3 |
credits |
| XGEN1 | General Elective 5 | 3 |
credits |
| Semester Three | 15 | credits |
| Semester | Four | ||
| XHUM1 | Humanities Elective | 3 |
credits |
| LF221 | Elementary Spanish 2 4 | 3 |
credits |
| NS110 | Intorduction to Anthropology6 OR | ||
| NS160 | Multicultural/Multiethnic U.S.A. OR | ||
| NS250 | Sociology of the Family | 3 |
credits |
| XGEN | General Elective 5 | 3 |
credits |
| XMST1 | Lab Science Elective | 4 |
credits |
| Semester Four | 16 | credits | |
| TOTAL | 63 | credits |
1 A minimum of one physical science course (chemistry or
physics) is required.
2 Art, Music, or Drama.
3 A literature course must be taken; Children's Literature is recommended.
4 Another foreign language may be taken through CCGS.
5 English, Psychology, Sociology, History, Science or Math.
6 Required for students planning to major in early childhood education and
development.
Elementary teacher education majors may take a major course or Liberal Arts
elective.
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Georgina A. Van Strat
Springfield Technical Community College
One Armory Square
Springfield, Massachusetts 01105
Voice: 413.781.7822 x3876
Email: vanstrat_georgina@stccadm.stcc.mass.edu
Recruiting for a Diverse Teaching Profession Grant:
Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) in partnership with the University
of Massachusetts School of Education, the University of Massachusetts -
University Without Walls (UWW) Program and the Springfield Public School
have been aggressively collaborating for several years to develop programs,
a degree articulation, and adult-learner model for paraprofessionals (Project
UPDATE) and a high school level outreach program (PRoject MERIT) designed
to increase the diversity of the teaching workeforce in Springfield. Currently,
only 16% of Springfield teachers are from ethnic minority cultures. Moreover,
approximately 70% of the children in Springfield's schools are predominantly
of Latino or African-American heritage.
Existing preservice curricula do not adequately prepare teachers to teach students of diverse cultural backgrounds. In addition to aggressive outreach to minority populations for enrollment in affordable teaching career development programs, preservice courses in general education/liberal arts areas must begin to integrate multicultural perspectives and course content. Moreover, the preservice curriculum must begin to explore with student teachers the complex social issues impacting urban populations.
This partnership had been awarded a $250,000 grant from he U.S. Department of Education to "jump start" an AS to BS Preservice Teacher Education Program which will enroll 50 paraprofessionals in articulated degree programs. Ideally, the outreach model and curriculum that is offered via this program should be updated to ensure pluralism. Moreover, the participants must be exposed to teacher-mentors from diverse ethnic backgrounds. This project will ensure that 25 minority preservice students are included in the cohort of student teachers enrolled in this articulation degree program in the 1997-98 academic year. A multicultural learning-community will be piloted.
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Georgina A. Van Strat
Springfield Technical Community College
One Armory Square
Springfield, Massachusetts 01105
Voice: 413.781.7822 x3876
Email: vanstrat_georgina@stccadm.stcc.mass.edu
Redesign of Teacher Preparation Experiences Grant:
In a partnership effort designed to bridge the gap between preservice
and inservice education, the Lexington Public Schools and Tufts University
are joined in a variety of professional development activities. A key component
of our partnership is the cluster site field placement model located at
the Maria Hastings Elementary School, which places 5-6 Tufts students with
cooperating classroom teachers under the supervision of one Tufts supervisor.
This year, the partnership has extended to replicate the cluster site model
at the Curtis Guild School in East Boston, thus creating links between an
urban and suburban school while offering student teachers placements in
both settings.
Our project has the following features:
Student Placement and On-site supervision:
A supervisor is assigned to the site to work with all student teachers.
The site supervisor meets with the cooperating teachers and students a least
four times a semester, observing the students in class and facilitating
discussions to help the student process the teaching experience and integrate
theory with practice. This model encourages dialogue, promotes shared responsibility
and stimulates reflective practice while streamlining the school-university
communication.
Cluster Site Meetings - Professional Practice Groups:
Each month students, cooperating teachers, and site supervisors meet for
30-45 minutes before school to engage in focused discussion topics that
members have identified by a needs assessment as relevant to their current
practicum such as classroom observation of children, curriculum planning
(balancing required and teacher developed curriculum); parent conferences,
time management, classroom management and teacher reflection. The groups
are open to all school faculty and promote reflection, support innovative
practice and provide feedback, encouragement and direction to teachers while
the groups also maximize opportunities to blend theory and practice.
Workshops:
Each semester, a Tufts faculty member facilitates a workshop for all student
teachers and faculty at the school site. A Hastings faculty member presents
a workshop at Tufts for all student teachers. Topics are chosen which meet
the identified needs of the groups and are aimed at maximizing the blending
of theory and practice. In the fall the focus was assessment linked to the
learning Standards and Curriculum Frameworks. In the spring the focus for
both partner schools will be on multiculturalism and anti-bias education
as it is linked to content areas in the Curriculum Frameworks.
Cross-School Visits:
Hastings and Curtis Guild classrooms have been linked as sister classrooms,
and cross-site visits of teachers have occurred. In addition, children have
become "keypals" and are engaging in communication and joint activities.
Conference:
This March, our first annual conference for both partner schools was held
at Tufts. Student teachers, faculty, parents and Tufts personnel enjoyed
a presentation by Sonia Nieto, a noted lecturer on multicultural education,
and participated in focused discussions on that topic. This conference set
the stage for the collaborative curriculum that partner-teachers and students
will develop during the summer of 1998.
Summer Institute:
Three Hastings and three Guild teachers along with three student teachers
will collaborate during the summer to build meaningful and relevant curriculum
focused on literacy with an anti-bias perspective that will be implemented
in the schools the following year. In the afternoon, participants will attend
seminars.
As urban-suburban school and university partnership evolves, we foresee making the urban-suburban site placements available to student teachers as a packageone semester placement suburban, one semester placement urban to ensure that students enjoy a diversified learning experience that will prepare them for teaching in any environment.
Our cluster site model's generation of an active, vibrant learning community
for both student teachers and all faculty members has far exceeded our expectations,
and our partnership with the Guild School has been very exciting for all
the teachers and students. We are looking forward to continuing and expanding
our activities next year.
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Debbie LeeKeenan
Department of Child Development
105 College Avenue
Medford, Massachusetts 02155
Voice: 617.627.3355
Email: dleekeenan@emerald.tufts.edu
Begining Teacher Induction:
The School of Education's Elementary Teacher Education Program (ETEP) has
engaged in a partnership with the South Hadley Elementary and Middle Schools
to mentor new teachers as well as student teachers who come into the school.
In order to do this effectively, we have formed a preservice-inservice continuum.
New teachers as well as veteran teachers completed a needs assessment and requested specific courses and/or workshops, which the Faculty of the School of Education as well as additional University faculty delivered on site at the South Hadley Middle School.
Some of these courses were Portfolio Assessment, Brain-based learning, Cooperative Learning, Curriculum Development in Education through Movement, Community Service Learning, Multicultural Children's Literature, Integrating Literature into the Curriculum (focus on mathematics).
Some of the courses are independent studies that enable classroom teachers to conduct projects in their classrooms, with the help and supervision of University faculty. These are often in conjunction with peer mentors, or are team taught. Teachers have also earned credit by forming study groups under the supervision of a University faculty member. One of these study groups is designing a mentoring handbook for work with both new teachers and student teachers.
University faculty have also given workshops in response to requests from South Hadley teachers. One such workshop provided strategies for helping students do well on standardized tests; one included integration of literature across the curriculum; and another dealt with authentic assessment. Sometimes workshops blossom into full-semester courses. They often serve as the impetus for the improvement of classroom curriculum.
The content of the courses mirrors the undergraduate preparation program so that the vocabulary of the courses as well as the philosophical bases and recommended activities are consistent with each other, and the teachers and student teachers are functioning congruently.
South Hadley faculty organized a site-visit for the preservice teachers so that they could meet their potential cooperating teachers and become familiar with the facilities and working of the elementary and middle schools. Preservice teachers served as student teachers as well as prepracticum (two-day per week) students in the South Hadley schools. They were visited weekly by a University-based Resource person who engaged in a clinical/cognitive supervision model and who served as a consultant to the classroom teachers.
University faculty serve as consultants to the teachers in the South Hadley Schools. They meet with teachers on a regular basis for ongoing planning of the program. Importantly, the University program benefits from the input of classroom teachers. They have been instrumental in helping to redesign the undergraduate program so that it is more effective in its preparation of future teachers. The undergraduate courses are more integrated now, and they contain such content as how to conduct running records, how to provide mini-lessons to children based on their diagnosed strengths and needs, and how to work as a part of a team of teachers in the schools.
The program is mutually consultative and mutually beneficial. It should be noted that the administrators of the South Hadley schools have been active supporters of the collaboration. The mentoring program has been a priority of the administration as well as the entire school community. Eventually this focus works to the benefit of the children.
The project is lead by Marsha K. Rudman, Deborah Patterson, UMASS; and JoAnne Devine, South Hadley liaison.
For more information, please contact:
Marsha Rudman
Office of Grant and Contract Administration
408 Goodell, Box 33285
Amherst, Massachusetts 01003
Voice: 413.545.1116
Email: rudman@educ.umass.edu
Redesign of Teacher Preparation Experiences Grant:
CTEP is an already redesigned teacher education program entering its third
year. This school based program represents a significant collaboration between
Mark's Meadow Lab School and the School of Education/UMass Amherst. It currently
addresses several grant-listed priorities including:
While we are pleased with advances made this year, a recent two day program evaluation identified the following needs: further work on implementation of the curriculum frameworks so that they are adequately emphasized; enhanced implementation of instructional technology that emphasizes embedded assessment of student learning; and ongoing development of performance assessments of pre-service intern and student learning.
Further redesign of CTEP made possible by this grant would focus on two new strands.
The first strand, Model Lessons, will engage classroom mentor teachers, university faculty and preservice interns in creating model lessons captured on video with scanned images of student work that incorporate four criteria:
In the second strand, "Collaborative Reflection: Creating Electronic Teacher Portfolios," pre-service interns and faculty from Mark's Meadow School and the University will review model lessons and select from them those lessons that best illustrate and explicate excellence in teaching and assessment.
The scope of the project will be broadened this year as CTEP is piloted at a new site within the Amherst district. A cohort group of mentors and administration from Fort River School will work with Mark's Meadow and School of Education faculties to begin to develop another program site at Fort River, a six hundred plus student school that houses an extensive TBE program for Khmer-speaking students and an integrated special needs pre-school program.
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Lenore Carlisle
Mark's Meadow Laboratory School
813 North Pleasant Street
Amherst, Massachusetts 01003
Voice: 413.545.1202
Recruiting for a Diverse Teaching Profession Grant:
Through the utilization of Goals 2000 money, the Amherst-Pelham Regional
Schools will partner with the University of Massachusetts School of Education
in collaborative efforts to support the recruitment, training, and certification
of professional staff of color for our schools. We will initially support
district staff currently in positions such as tutors, paraprofessionals
and aides. Financial support will be provided for tuition, fees, books and
related materials. University coursework will include meeting all requirements
for certification in Massachusetts in addition to coursework relating to
current research, curriculum and instructional practices for meeting the
needs of ESL and Bilingual students in our schools.
In addition, in-service teachers will serve as mentors for pre-service teachers. They will meet regularly to discuss readings, research, and case studies of learners in our district. Pre-service teachers will experience and, hence, better understand the learning needs and styles of second-language learners. They will also develop strategies for facilitating the process of inclusion of all students in the classroom. Pre-service teachers will have the opportunity to participate in classrooms as will as to observe successful practices of in-service teachers. The culmination of the project will be an ESL/Bilingual handbook to help re-service and in-service teachers critically examine educational service delivery models.
Finally, our program will provide additional service in the area of resume writing, interviewing, and other job seeking skills. There are many cultural concerns to be aware of during the job seeking process. Our staff will continue to work with qualified candidates to assist them in their professional pursuits.
For more information, please contact:
Jerri Willett, Principal Investigator
Office of Grant and Contract Administration
408 Goodell, Box 33285
Amherst, Massachusetts 01003
Voice: 413.545.1202
Email: willett@educ.umass.edu
Recruiting for a Diverse Teaching Profession:
The University of Massachusetts at Boston, and its Graduate College of Education,
in collaboration with the Boston Public School System have formed a partnership
to encourage Boston school students to begin training to enter the teaching
profession when they are in middle school, participate in a school to career
program for future teachers while they are in high school, and train as
teachers in the college level Urban Education Program at UMass Boston, and
return to the Boston Public Schools as apprentice teachers, and then as
full teachers.
For more information, please contact:
Lucia Mayerson-Davis
Institute for Learning and Teaching
100 Morrisey Blvd.
Boston, Massachusetts 02125
Voice: 617.287.7658
Recruiting for a Diverse Teaching Profession:
The University of Massachusetts at Boston and with the Southeastern Regional
Vocational School District, in collaboration, are working on Project Aspire,
or New Faces for Vocational Education.
The culminating activity of Project Aspire is a two week summer program for middle school minority and female students providing an exposure to the Chapter 74 programs of cabinet making, computer office technology, electronics, CAD/CAM, animal husbandry, agriculture, machine shop, and graphic and commercial arts. Activities will be directly organized and supervised by teaching teams.
Recruitment for this project has begun this past Fall. Their major priorities and activities are:
For more information, please contact:
Sumner Rotman
University of Massachusetts Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, Massachusetts 02125
Voice: 617.287.5370
Redesign of Preservice Experiences:
This project aligns activities with the learning standards of the Massachusetts
Curriculum Frameworks, Principles of Effective Teaching, student assessment
strategies, and current knowledge of effective practice. BRIDGES
targets secondary pre-service teachers, in-service teachers and college
faculty for the purposes of promoting and sustaining strong, inter-institutional
teaching teams.
Our twofold mission is to restructure secondary preservice programs in order to infuse the arts throughout the curriculum, thereby enhancing the way the arts and other academic disciplines are taught and enriching the learning/teaching process in general; and to enhance the professional development of inservice teachers through interdisciplinary team-teaching with college faculty, technology training and on-line mentoring.
BRIDGES supports a constructivist approach to learning, emphasizes an inquiry-based teaching model, utilizes the theory of multiple intelligences (Gardner 1990) and develops arts-integrated interdisciplinary curricula. Project partners recognize that preservice teachers need to be prepared through a multitude of resources and in new ways--learning not only how to teach the arts and technology, but also how to integrate both into the teaching of a wide range of disciplines.
Through a series of face-to-face workshops, as well as via a specially designed interactive web site, BRIDGES Teams (comprised of 14 college faculty and local teachers) will develop a new, three credit pre-service course that will be pilot-tested in May, 1998 on the UMass Dartmouth campus. BRIDGES plans to enroll 16 pre-service teachers in the pilot course. The students who enroll will represent preservice teachers from a variety of disciplines including Spanish, History, Art Education, Math, and Portuguese majors. Learning from their faculty counterparts, these preservice students will create an arts infused, interdisciplinary unit that demonstrates performance assessments and outcomes. In all its activities, BRIDGES supports innovative curriculum production, authentic assessment strategies, new technology networks and action research. The pilot course, begins May 1, 1998.
For details, please visit us at:
artslinks@umassd.edu or at
http://www.umassd.edu/SpecialPrograms/ArtsLinks/home.html
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Arlene B. Mollo
Art Education Deparment
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
285 Old Westport Road
North Dartmouth, Massachusetts 02747
Voice: 508.999.9204
Fax: 508.999.8901
Email: amollo@umassd.edu or artslinks@umassd.edu
Website: http://www.umassd.edu/SpecialProjects/ArtsLinks/home.html
Ms.Shrye Weisz
SMARTS Collaborative
P.O. Box 12A
Norton, Massachusetts 02766
Voice: 508.285.5731
Fax: 508.285.5731
Email: smarts@ici.net
Continuation Grant:
ArtsLinks will publish the annual directory of 1998 Eisenhower Projects
both on the web and as a printed document. Archival material from the 1996
and 1997 Eisenhower Projects will also be posted on our site. A unique feature
of the 1998 Directory will be its interactivity. For example, in addition
to posting the abstracts, ArtsLinks will create an interactive site with
an online Resource Listing and a Forum for discussions about current activities
in each project. Related reference links will connect key elements in each
abstract. The site will be maintained and updated by Artslinks technicians
for the duration of the project.
A second aim of this continuation project is to provide a series of at least three technical seminars for teachers in the SMARTS Collaborative (the Southeastern Massachusetts Arts Collaborative), an eight-district consortium of public and private schools in the region. Through hands-on, technical-based seminars, in-service educators will learn ways to communicate through the Internet and ways to use the Internet as a teaching tool.
Approximately thirty-six (36) teachers will be involved in these technical
seminars. The aim of the workshops is to develop technical and web-based
communication skills with a focus on related arts content.
For details, please visit us at:
artslinks@umassd.edu or at
http://www.umassd.edu/SpecialPrograms/ArtsLinks/home.html
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Arlene B. Mollo
Art Education Deparment
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
285 Old Westport Road
North Dartmouth, Massachusetts 02747
Voice: 508.999.9204
Fax: 508.999.8901
Email: amollo@umassd.edu or artslinks@umassd.edu
Website: http://www.umassd.edu/SpecialProjects/ArtsLinks/home.html
Ms.Shrye Weisz
SMARTS Collaborative
P.O. Box 12A
Norton, Massachusetts 02766
Voice: 508.285.5731
Fax: 508.285.5731
Email: smarts@ici.net
Continuation Grant:
The Lowell Public Schools, the University of Massachusetts Lowell College
of Education, and the Tsongas Industrial History Center has developed the
unique interdisciplinary, experiential, professional development program
for all middle school mathematics teachers in the Lowell Public Schools
and all mathematics preservice teachers at the College of Education. During
the three years of the project, Lowell middle school mathematics teachers
have been gaining experience and changing their practice participating in
three strands: STRAND I, The Development of lnterdisciplinary Teaching Modules
which use problem solving in both classroom and community environments;
STRAND II, Observation and Analysis of Successful Teaching based on a constructivism
leaming theory; and STRAND III, Research on Classroom Practice, which includes
techniques for conducting and evaluating the teachers' own experimental
innovations.
The preservice mathematics teachers have had the opportunity to immerse themselves in an environment where they are engaged in investigating, questioning and debating with inservice teachers rather than to acquire prescriptions of instructional methods for use. This has been achieved through restructuring and enhancing student teacher field experience.
The project is timed specifically to assist both Lowell's Middle Schools and teachers to be in response to the new Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and NCTM Standards. The project is structured to foster teachers' professional autonomy and put them in control of their learming-to promote teacher leadership and collective teacher professional development; to help preservice, teachers to become a part of community that actively works with them as learners and allows the experience to be dissected, evaluated, and reflected upon in order for principles of pedagogy and action to be constructed.
The project is directed by Dr. Regina Panasuk of the UMASS Lowell College of Education, assisted by Dr. Peter O'Connell, Director of the Tsongas Industrial History Center, and Dr. Mary Sullivan, Curry College. A team of seven experienced teacher leaders, one from each of Lowell's middle schools, has received intensive training based on peer coaching and is taking a lead in the project development. These leader teachers have developed and implemented training workshops and serve as mentors for mathematics colleagues in their middle schools. School-based activities are the major part of the program to ensure the integration of new knowledge into instructional practice.
This professional development model has applicability for other schools
and colleges in Massachusetts, especially those who use the Tsongas Center
and Lowell National Historical Park as interdisciplinary field study sites.
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Regina M. Panasuk, Project Director
Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education
College of Education
University of Massachusetts Lowell
One University Avenue, West Campus
Lowell, Massachusetts 01854
Voice: 978.934.4714
Email: Regina_Panasuk@uml.edu
Redesign of Teacher Preparation Experiences Grant:
This proposal is a Coordinated Grant Application (Goals 2000 and Eisenhower)
submitted by the University of Massachusetts Lowell and the Chelmsford,
Methuen and Lowell Public School systems.
According to the Report of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, school improvement and student success will be achieved through the "recruitment, preparation and retention of good teachers." The College of Education at the University of Massachusetts Lowell is committed to these efforts and shares the joint responsibility of ensuring the quality of professional education of preservice teachers with the local public school systems. Based on the realization that the core of successful systemic reform of education in Massachusetts is rooted in the collaboration between schools and the University, the College restructured its initial teacher preparation program to reflect the goals and standards of the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993. The implementation of the Education Reform Act created a need for existing teacher preparation programs to recruit and retain qualified applicants who have achieved academic excellence. In addition, course offerings must reflect and recognize the importance of integrating knowledge of the Curriculum Frameworks and Principles of Effective Teaching with classroom experiences. The University of Massachusetts Lowell and the school districts of Lowell, Chelmsford and Methuen have a long history of effectively working together to improve the teaching and learning of all students. It is hoped that through the funding of this project, the partnerships will be strengthened and will be useful models for other partnership programs.
Program Summary
The proposed project is a collaboration between the University of Massachusetts
Lowell College of Education and professional development sites in Lowell,
Methuen and Chelmsford. The existing partnerships allow University students
to observe and student teach in K-12 classrooms with educators who not only
have the necessary knowledge and skills to make learning possible for all
children but are able to provide the mentoring support which is critical
for preservice teachers. Through specialty and professional coursework and
early and extended field experiences, preservice teachers also acquire a
comprehensive content knowledge, repertoire of teaching strategies, knowledge
of curriculum frameworks, a variety of evaluation techniques, and an appreciation
of diversity.
The proposed activities have all been implemented over the past several years at the College of Education in conjunction with the three school systems. It is hoped that through funding, these activities can be expanded upon and strengthened with the purpose of creating self-sustaining projects which will continue to provide ongoing learning opportunities for K-16 students and faculty.
The activities include the following :
The Advisory Board will work jointly to develop guidelines for restructuring
courses and to ensure that prospective teachers have the necessary preparation
in professional content areas.
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Vera Ossen, Ed. D.
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Upham Hall
One University Avenue, West Campus
Lowell, Massachusetts 01854
Voice: 978.934.4601
Email: vera_ossen@uml.edu
Redesign of Preservice Experiences Grant:
This project is a collaboration between the University of Massachusetts
Lowell College of Education and professional development sites in Lowell,
Methuen and Chelmsford. The existing partnerships allow University students
to observe and student teach with educators in K-1 2 classrooms who not
only have the necessary knowledge and skills to make leaming possible for
all children but are able to provide the mentoring support which is critical
for preservice teachers. As an increasing number of these preservice teachers
are employed in the school after graduation. The need for an induction program
has become essential.
Program Summary
This program recruits and selects teacher mentors in the three participating school districts to receive training, actively mentor beginning teachers, and contributes to planning for the continuation of an effective induction program for beginning teachers. Grant funds will be used to support a university-based coordinator and trainer; allow for the development of assistant trainers (school-based teachers); cover the costs of training materials and meeting costs; develop resource manuals and training tapes for future programs; create linkage with a university clinical experience leading to standard certification; and provide stipends to mentor teachers for participation in training, planning, and mentoring activities.
Mentors will attend five three-hour training sessions focused on effective communication strategies, principles of effective mentoring, and classroom observation and conferencing skills. In the training and mentoring activities the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and the Principles of Effective Teaching will serve as a common concept system and working vocabulary among trainers, mentors, beginning teachers, and administrators. This will further contribute to an alignment between the support to beginning teachers through mentoring activities, their formal evaluation through the administrative procedures of the district, and linkage to a university clinical experience. Administrators, mentors, and university professionals will serve as support teams to the beginning teacheri-with roles and responsibilities clearly defined.
Mentoring activities (between mentor-mentee pairs) during the year will include: frequent sessions; formal conferences to share materials, examine lesson plans, review appropriate Curriculum Frameworks, trouble-shoot areas of difficulties; classroom observations with feedback conferences; opportunities for the mentee to observe the mentoer's class (or others' classes); and monthly university seminars with other mentor-mentee pairs to share promising practices, engage in joint problem solving, and examine student work samples.
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Charles Christensen
UMass Lowell
One University Avenue
Lowell, Massachusetts 01854
Voice: 978.934.4656
Email: charles_christensen@uml.edu
Continuation Grant:
The aim of this project is to support the Boston Public Schools as they
begin to implement their newly-published Learning Standards in Science for
grades K- 12. Although the Standards have been written, schools and teachers
have not yet been provided with materials nor with staff development opportunities
with which to implement them.
During Phase One (1996-97), twelve Boston elementary teachers, two each from grades K-5, were asked to fieldtest exemplary inquiry-based science units which seemed to address the BPS Standards. They were asked to document their experiences in a guidebook form useful to other teachers at each grade level. These Boston Guides for Elementary Science Units were then distributed throughout the system.
The specific objectives of the project have been to:
1) support Boston elementary schools and teachers as they implement the system's new leaming standards in science.
2) provide opportunities for teacher leaders to have first hand experiences implementing standards-based exemplary science curriculum units, and to document their experiences.
3) disseminate the classroom experiences of these teachers to all other Boston teachers at their grade level.
Over the course of Phase One, several issues have emerged which indicate Boston's steady progress toward reform in science at the elementary level:
Phase Two of the project will address these issues and strengthen Boston's progress by introducing more elementary teachers to more of these exemplary science materials. With funding from the Board of Higher Education and the Boston Public Schools, eighteen elementary teachers, a mixture of Phase One and Phase Two teachers, will field test materials and document their experiences. This documentation will supplement the Guides produced during Phase One. Participants will meet regularly to discuss issues related to their units; a Consulting Scientist will be available to introduce appropriate science content. As a result of Phase Two, more Boston teachers will be in a position to advocate for elementary science materials which truly support Boston's Learning Standards.
For more information, please contact:
Mr. Jeff Winokur
Wheelock College
200 The Riverway
Boston, MA 02215
Voice: 617.734.5200, ext. 215
Fax: 617.734.7103
Email: whe_winokur@flo.org
Recruiting for a Diverse Teaching Profession:
Wheelock College, in Partnership with the Cambridge Public Schools,
is requesting support to develop an innovative model for the recruitment,
academic support, financial assistance, and mentoring of individuals of
color seeking to enter the teaching profession.
Nationally and locally there is a need to increase the diversity of the teaching force. The National Center for Educational Statistics has reported that during the 1987, 1988 school year, only 12 % of the teachers across the nation were members of minority groups. In Massachusetts during the same time period, only 5.6% of the teachers were members of minority groups. The low percentage of minority teachers contrasts with the large number of students from minority and linguistically diverse populations enrolled in the Cambridge Public School System. In Cambridge, 57% of the elementary students are children of color and 33% come from non-English speaking homes. This disparity demonstrates the need for the active recruitment of individuals of color for the teaching profession.
Wheelock College, in partnership with the Cambridge Public Schools, (CPS) has developed strong partnerships for the joint preparation of teachers. Currently in over 8 partner schools, Wheelock students complete year-long paid internships in graduate programs including Early Childhood Teaching, Elementary Teaching, and Teaching Students with Special Needs. Internships provide between $4,000 and $11,000 stipends depending on the school and the assignment. In all cases, these internships developed over the past several years, demonstrate strong relationships with classroom teachers, principals, and systemwide administrators. College and school-based faculty share the teaching responsibilities in these programs, and course work is closely linked to field experiences.
Wheelock College, founded in 1888, enjoys a national and international reputation as a leader in early childhood education and related fields serving children and families. The College historically has a strong commitment to recruitment of students of color and has established an intensive summer program (The Urban Teachers Program) which provides students with course work and student teaching leading to provisional certification at the elementary level. Wheelock provides scholarships for the 15 to 20 students in this program, and each year, approximately one half of the students in the Urban Teaching Program have been people of color. In addition, Wheelock has sought people of color for the year-long teacher preparation programs. However, these efforts have met with limited success. This may be explained by several factors. Whereas in the UTP, a student is in school and out of the labor market for 10 weeks, in the Masters Program, a student is enrolled for 14 months (two summers and one school year ). While these programs provide exceptional clinical experience, they also keep a person out of the labor market for an extended period of time. Some students may be reluctant to borrow to cover these costs, and to date, Wheelock has not been able to provide significant help in the form of grants and stipends. Also, Wheelock is a small graduate school (600 students) with a small admissions staff, and the Outreach to Potential candidates of color is costly and labor intensive. For these reasons, Wheelock College, in partnership with the Cambridge Public Schools, is requesting support to develop an innovative, collaborative model for the recruitment, mentoring, placement, and first year support for individuals of color entering the teaching profession.
II. Program Summary
The proposed program consists of four components:
1.) An extensive outreach and recruitment initiative to identify and enroll individuals of color into one of the various teacher preparation programs at Wheelock (early childhood, elementary, special needs);
2.) Academic support for these students throughout the 14 months of the programs to which they are admitted;
3.) Financial assistance for those individuals in this group who may be eligible for financial aid and;
4.) Program development for a mentoring and consultation program for graduates of the programs to support them in their first year of teaching.
The goal of these initiatives is to increase the number of successful teachers who are members of currently underrepresented groups.
III Program Design and Evaluation
Phase I Outreach and Recruitment - For purposes of this grant,
Wheelock is defining recruitment very broadly to include information about
programs, assistance with the admissions application and financial aid processes,
and selection of a field site for student teaching. Wheelock will hire a
part time recruitment specialist to work closely with the personnel department
of CPS and local community groups to reach individuals who may currently
be working in the systems (paraprofessionals, assistant teachers, teacher
aides) or reside in these communities. Graduates of the Wheelock programs,
current cooperating teachers of color in CPS, and faculty of color at Wheelock
will work closely with and advise the recruitment coordinator concerning
outreach efforts. These efforts will include group information sessions
in Cambridge about the Wheelock programs including opportunities for paid
internships and financial aid requirements. In addition, individual planning
sessions will be an option for interested candidates. Complimenting these
local initiatives, the recruitment coordinator will work closely with the
faculty of the Urban Teaching Program and the Director of Alumni Affairs
to build an alumni network for outreach to other parts of the country where
alumni of color are currently working.
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Jean Krasnow
Wheelock Graduate School
200 Riverway
Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Voice: 617.734.5200 x 199
Redesign of Teacher Preparation Experience Grant:
The overriding aim of this project is to foster the continued growth
of a professional development school consortium composed of five (5) institutions
of higher education and twelve (12) Worcester Public Schools encompassing
the full K-12 spectrum. Members of this nascent consortium share in common
the goal of coordinating and integrating the perspectives of liberal arts
and sciences, education, and school faculty into redesigned programs of
preservice education. Their work is mutually informing and supportive. At
the same time, individual partnerships are at different stages of development,
and are focusing their current efforts differently. Accordingly, funding
under this joint grant program would support a fairly broad range of activity,
including, on the one hand, a planning process for the beginning of a new
professional development school partnership and, on the other, a maturing
set of collaboratively designed (liberal arts and sciences, education, and
school faculty) and tun, and largely field-based courses, as well as curriculum
projects in the arts, humanities, mathematics, physical and natural sciences,
and social sciences grounded in state frameworks.
The project, then, represents both the focused work of individual partnerships, and the nurturing of a collective effort uniting the higher education community and the Worcester Public School system.
The MA Consortium for Initial Teacher Professional Development grant
reflects our "K-16" Professional Development School Collaborative"
with the Worcester Public Schools. Tom Del Prete is the higher education
contact for that program, while Gerry Fournier of the Worcester Public Schools
(along with individual school principals) is the school contact. The PDS
Collaborative includes Clark (the Jacob
Hiatt Center for Urban Education and the Education Department) and the following
schools: The Goddard School of Science and Technology (pre-K - 6); the Jacob
Hiatt Magnet School (Pre-K - 6); Sullivan Middle School (7-8); South High
Community School(9-12); The University Park Campus School (7-12).
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Tomas DelPrete Ed.D.
950 Main Street
Worcester, Massachusetts 01610
Voice: 508.793.7197
Email: tdelprete@clarku.edu
Redesign of Teacher Preparation Experience Grant:
Teams of Oxford/WSC staff in each of the ares of mathematice, science and
technology, English/Language Arts, History and Social Studies will be formed.
Teams will include Oxford teachers/Liberal Arts faculty and Education faculty.
Oxford teachers and Liberal Arts faculty initially review college catalog and Competencey I of certification requirements to determine which liberal arts/science course (s) provide the prospective 5-12 teacher with the knowledge to meet Competency as well as the competencies of the respective curriculum frameworks and enable them to teach so that their students will be able to master the content of the respective curriculum framework.
Oxford teachers and Liberal Arts faculty will identify areas that are not included in the college curriculum and make recommentdations for course redesign.
Oxford teachers suggest lesson activities for 5-12 that should be included as part of pre-practicum courses prior to student teaching. Such activities should reference principles of effective teaching.
Oxford teachers and Education faculty work on course redesign of methods courses to incorporate various activities.
Middle/Secondary pre-practicum students implement lessons at Oxford Middle School and Oxford High School.
For more information, please contact:
Mr. David Quist
46 Chandler Street
Worcester, Massachusetts 01612
Voice: 508.929.8046
Email: dquist@worc.mass.edu
Thirty-one institutions have been selected to receive funds through the 1997-1998 Eisenhower/ Goals 2000 Project. Awards are for the period of October 1, 1997 through September 30, 1998.
Programs are identified by type of project: Redesign of Teacher Preparation Experience, Beginning Teacher Induction, Recruiting for a Diverse Teaching Profession. Programs that received Eisenhower grant monies for the previous year are indicated as "Continuing Grant".
For more information, please contact:
Lynette Robinson-Weening
Eisenhower Program Director
Massachusetts Board of Higher Education
One Ashburton Place, Room 1401
Boston, Massachusetts 02108-1696
Voice: 617.727.7785 x.246
Fax 617.727.6397
Email: lrobinson@bhe.mass.edu
The 1998 Massachusetts Directory of Eisenhower and Eisenhower Goals 200 Projects was prepared for electronic and print publication by the ArtsLinks Project, a UMass Dartmouth/SMARTS Collaboration.
ArtsLinks gratefully acknowledges the technical assistance of Ms. Dawn Turner (dturner@tiac.net) and Mrs. Kelly Pelissier (charkel@massed.net).
Questions about this directory may be addressed to:
Dr. Arlene B. Mollo
Art Education Department
ArtsLinks
285 Old Westport Road
North Dartmouth, MA 02747
Voice: 508.999.9204
Fax: 508.999.8901
Email: artslinks@umassd.edu
The electronic version was designed as text-only so that those with minimal web viewing capabilities could have full access to the information. It was published as a single document so that readers could search easily on topics of special interest.
The 1996-1997 Directories are located at:
http://www.umassd.edu/SpecialPrograms/ArtsLinks/home.html