Columns:: UGA will help lead $35 million project to improve education

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Columns::October 6, 2003

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Campus News

UGA will help lead $35 million project to improve education

By Michael Childs
mchilds@coe.uga.edu

The colleges of Education and Arts and Sciences will lead the northeast Georgia portion of a monumental statewide effort aimed

Michael Padilla

at improving student achievement in mathematics and science in Georgia’s P-12 schools.
The innovative effort, called Partnership for Reform in Science and Mathematics, or PRISM, was collaboratively developed by the board of regents, the Georgia Department of Education, and the colleges, universities and public school systems in four regions of the state. The massive reform initiative is being funded by a $34.6 million National Science Foundation grant over five years. The northeast Georgia region’s share of the award will be $5,267,105.
“The national recognition that the University of Georgia is receiving through this and other research grants demonstrates our capacity to have a direct and positive impact on the people of Georgia,” says President Michael F. Adams. “Improving the teaching and learning of mathematics in Georgia’s P-12 schools is critically important to the future of this state. I am particularly pleased that this grant will have a direct impact on schools in Clarke, Jackson and Oconee counties.”
In addition to UGA, core partners of PRISM include Armstrong Atlantic State University, Georgia Southern University and Georgia State University, who will work with P-12 public school systems in each of four regions of the state. UGA’s partners in northeast Georgia include Georgia Perimeter College and school districts in Clarke, Jackson and Oconee counties, which enroll more than 22,000 students in 39 schools and employ more than 1,800 teachers.
“Georgia Perimeter College has a long history of partnering with other educational institutions to meet the educational needs of the citizens of Georgia,” says Jacquelyn M. Belcher, president of Georgia Perimeter College. “The PRISM project is an exemplar for the kind of collaboration and cooperation necessary for reform in science and mathematics in the state.”
The initiative incorporates many of the findings that researchers at UGA and other universities across the nation have discovered during years of studying the best methods of teaching and learning.
“PRISM focuses resources on teacher education in two ways--through professional development of experienced teachers and the improved education of new teachers,” says Michael Padilla, co-principal investigator and director of educational partnerships at UGA’s College of Education. “The ultimate measure of our success will be increased student achievement--in science and math--within our local school systems.”
To increase student achievement, PRISM emphasizes changes in science and mathematics educational practice at all levels of the four regional P-16 partnerships and works to transform state policies to help the regional and local reform efforts gain traction and expand.
Dozens of science and mathematics faculty members in both education and arts and sciences at UGA and GPC will make changes in teacher preparation, professional development and P-12 science and mathematics courses and curricula, including extra support for students who need it.
“We are extremely pleased that the PRISM project is being funded by NSF and that the University of Georgia will play a key role,” says Arnett C. Mace, senior vice president for academic affairs. “The opportunity to cooperate with other partners is vital to the success of the project. The improvement of education for math and science teachers is a critical need for Georgia and the nation.”
Strategies that faculty will employ to create these changes include:
• Influence the quality of teacher preparation through changing how science and mathematics are taught to future P-12 teachers. University faculty will explore how to adapt their courses to an inquiry-based approach and implement other current best practices in teaching science and mathematics. Two groups of science and mathematics courses taken by aspiring teachers will be targeted: introductory courses where all teacher candidates, especially those in elementary and middle school education, obtain their knowledge of the major themes, big ideas and organizing concepts of a field; and upper division courses, in which aspiring teachers need to experience links among content, pedagogy and assessment strategies for a particular discipline.
• Provide high quality professional development to P-12 teachers of science and mathematics. Professional development of teachers is the top priority in all four PRISM regions, in order to improve science and mathematics student achievement. Teaching quality will not improve without high student-learning standards and strategies and support for teachers to help all students attain those standards. All of the more than 10,000 P-12 teachers of science and mathematics in the four PRISM regions will receive stipends, organizational support and release time for participation in professional development.
• Engage higher education and P-12 faculty in “learning communities.” PRISM will establish discipline-based school-university learning communities in which teachers’ experiences in the classroom, as well as content knowledge and methodology, will inform best practices of how to teach science and mathematics for all students.
• Implement regional strategies to recruit science and mathematics teachers. The northeast Georgia effort will target undecided arts and sciences majors already attending UGA and GPC and second-career individuals wishing to become teachers.
“We view it as an excellent opportunity to strengthen science and math instruction in our schools, and we are confident that the collaboration between the public school systems and UGA will be very beneficial for all concerned,” says Shannon Adams, superintendent of Oconee County Schools.

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