Math/Science
Partnership Tiered Mentoring grant program
Executive Summary – Year 1
Green River Regional Educational Cooperative districts
benefiting from the Math/Science Teachers Engaged as Mentors (MS•TEAMS) grant are
A two-day Summer Institute in July 2004, organized by the
Project Manager, Evaluator and Higher Education Advisors began the
initial stages of Year 1. The project overview was outlined as well as a KVHS
training, IGP development, Explanation of Data
Collection and Learning Team model layouts.
All Team Leaders, Members and Higher Education Advisors attended. Time was also used for one-on-one break out
sessions for Advisors and Team Leaders.
In August 2004, Learning Teams began meeting after school each
week. Agendas for the meetings included
individual learning topics that reflected Team Leaders and Members needs. The Evaluator reviewed each reflection log
from all members of the Learning Teams and noted increased confidence in
collegially sharing content with students, as well as improved attitudes and an
increase of use of technology. (See examples in the Evaluator portion of the
report)
By September 2004, Team Leaders along with Higher Education
Advisors had developed Individual Growth Plans specific to the grant. Leaders and Advisors were required to meet at
least five times each semester as well as via frequent e-mails and other communications. Advisors also traveled to the Leader’s school
at least twice each semester. (See
attached chart for detailed Advisor/Leader time)
The Program Manager and Evaluator began making quarterly site
visits in October 2004. Both qualitative
and quantitative information was gathered during these visits. Some examples of qualitative data gathered
included: IGPs,
anecdotal reports and surveys. Examples
of quantitative data gathered included:
reviewing release days, professional development usage, pre test
(praxis) evaluation and review of Kentucky Core Content Test data with Leaders.
Throughout the next several months, sessions between Higher
Education Advisors and Team Leaders continued.
Learning Teams continued to meet every week to reflect on the project,
note changes in teacher content knowledge – behavior and student learning as
guided by the goals defined in their IGP.
Team Leaders and Members attended Professional Developments, deemed
appropriate by the Higher Education Advisor, and utilization of partnership
involvement began to be discussed.
Team Leaders, Higher Education Advisors, Program Manager
and Evaluator came together in February 2005.
Each district gave an update of “Where have you been? Where are you now? Where do you want to be?” This time allowed Leaders to reveal new
ideas, share accomplishments and express frustrations. Each Leader was also given a topic that the
Evaluator felt was a strong point for them, to discuss with the group. ex: Pre Test/Post Test, Analyzing Assessment Results, Ideas for
Using Release Days, and Rubric Development.
The afternoon was dedicated to planning how to utilize partnership
resources to their fullest potential.
Science Expositions took place in March. Out of the 5 science Learning Teams, 3 of
the schools hosted an exposition. Leaders not hosting an exposition chose to use
release days to attend. This time was
used to research the day and write proposals for prospective, future
expositions at their own schools.
The final months of year 1 focused on partnership projects
through the Barren River Imaginative Museum of Science (BRIMS),
Year 1 of the Math/Science Partnership Tiered Mentoring
grant program began a three-year program to improve teachers’ content
knowledge, understanding and appreciation in math and science through a tiered
mentoring system. In all, the
Cooperative’s program served 24 math and science teachers in five middle
schools, directly impacting up to 2,720 students in south central