Funded Programs-ITQ

PROJECTS APPROVED FOR 2007 ITQ FUNDING

ASU Mary Lou Fulton College of Education; ASU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; Avondale Elementary School District; other LEAs ($100,000, Year 1 of 2): Teacher Quality and Student Achievement Through ASU University-District Partnerships

This program builds on ASU’s successful BEST (Beginning Educator Support Team), a comprehensive teacher induction, mentoring and professional development model. Teacher leaders and administrators in seven K-12 districts will take part in a series of monthly professional development sessions in teacher induction, mentoring, standards-based professional development and content-based coaching in math, science, and reading/language. They will also be supported in applying their new skills with classroom teachers in their own districts. Teacher leaders will document growth in the classroom teachers’ competency, and AIMS scores will be collected and recorded for each partnering district throughout the project.

UA College of Education; UA College of Science; Sunnyside Unified School District; Tucson Unified School District; five Tucson-area private schools ($104,857, Year 1 of 2): Project LEAD Partnership

Project LEAD will leverage the Tucson Unified School District’s new Regional Science Center and its previous National Science Foundation-funded science experience to further develop components of teacher leadership and assessment and expand them to regional partners. Thirteen partner teachers will receive intensive training in science content, pedagogy, and adult learner facilitation skills. This Science Instructor Cadre will in turn teach a 15-hour course for K-8 science teachers from the partnering districts, incorporating specific content, pedagogy, and the use of assessment data as an instructional tool. The statewide AIMS science assessment and district-developed benchmark assessments will be used to determine Project LEAD’s impact on student achievement.

ASU Polytechnic School of Education Innovation and Teacher Preparation; ASU Polytechnic College of Humanities and Arts; Mary C. O’Brien Accommodation District; other high-need Pinal County LEAs ($103,140, Year 1 of 2): Pinal County Language Arts Teacher Leadership Consortium

This project provides a comprehensive language arts professional development program targeting teachers of grades 4-12 in 7 predominantly rural districts, including 5 high-need districts. The focus will be on intervention and prevention strategies that enhance student reading and writing ability, while improving academic achievement in all content areas. The program model, managed b y the Pinal County Education Service Agency, includes six higher education credits, professional development, networking, administrative support and individual participant support. Gains in student achievement in reading and writing proficiency will be measured by the AIMS achievement tests.

ASU Mary Lou Fulton College of Education; Midwestern University College of Health Sciences; Mesa Public Schools; Mesa Community College; Maricopa Community Colleges; other LEAS ($100,000, Year 1 of 1): Learning Science Content Through Communication in Science Inquiry Project (CISIP)

This project leverages professional development resources, research support, and faculty from the National Science Foundation-funded Communication In Science Inquiry Project (CISIP) based in the Maricopa Community Colleges. A core team of 24 8th-grade principals, science and English teachers will receive intensive training in integrating scientific writing and talking, learning principles, and academic language development approaches into their classroom instruction. Additionally, secondary/middle school science methods courses at ASU will be revised to give an estimated 375 pre-service K-8 teachers more effective science teaching tools and prepare them to pass the Arizona Educator Proficiency Assessment.

ASU West Campus College of Teacher Education and Leadership; ASU West Department of Mathematical Sciences and Applied Statistics; Roosevelt Elementary School District; 7 additional LEAs and one private school ($102,096, Year 1 of 2): Helping Teachers Qualify (HTQ-ITQ)

The HTQ-ITQ project will provide 30 middle-grade (6th, 7th and 8th) teachers of mathematics in high-need districts with university coursework to increase their mathematics content knowledge; provide them with effective teaching strategies they can implement in the classroom; and help them become highly qualified teachers by preparing them to pass the Arizona Educator Proficiency Assessment Middle Grades Mathematics examination. School administrators will identify educational needs, observe classroom implementation, and participate in professional development. Teacher content knowledge will be measured through pre- and post assessments, and student achievement in mathematics will be compared between participants and non-participants.

NAU College of Education; NAU College of Arts and Letters; Tuba City Unified School District; Arizona K-12 Center; three other LEAs and one charter school ($100,000, Year 1 of 2): Coconino Content Literacy Coaching

This project targets 8 high-need schools in Coconino County to provide graduate-level courses and coaching in content reading strategies in science, math, language arts, and social studies. 50 participants may earn units toward English Education certification or a reading endorsement, becoming more highly qualified to meet academic literacy needs. The project uses a peer-to-peer mentoring model to coach and support classroom teachers across this very large and sparsely populated geographic region in applying content literacy strategies. Standardized testing will measure student gains in reading as well as in vocabulary and comprehension in science, mathematics and social studies.

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