RMMSMSP Five Year Strategic Plan
This Strategic Plan is designed as a comprehensive blueprint for the five-year
implementation of the project. Section I describes the Vision, Goals, and Outcomes.
Section II delineates Strategic Aspects. It includes a table linking the activities
and those strategic aspects. Section III is the Implementation and Execution of the
Project with Section IIIA as the Implementation Plan for the first year. It includes a
narrative,a Gantt chart for the implementation of the goals and one for the
Summer Camps. Section IIIB divides each goal out into its specifics and includes
narrative, alogic model, and a Gantt chart for each. Section IV is the
Management Plan, Section V is the Evaluation Plan with the Baseline Data as
appendices, and Section VI is theSummary. Appendices follow. Appendix 1
contains an important table, Table II, Timelines, Milestones, and Benchmarks.
I. Vision,Goals, and Outcomes of the RM-MSMSP
The RMMSMSP targets enhancement of middle school mathematics and science learning by focusing the combined expertise of seven school districts and five higher education institutions on the implementation of challenging curricula taught by highly qualified and diverse teachers in grades 6-8. Good middle school outcomes in these areas increase the probability that students will do well in these subjects in high school and persist to graduation from high school and subsequent attendance in college. The project will utilize structural interventions such as professional development for teachers to pursue its goals:
- to enhance middle school teacher quality through implementation of content-rich professional development coursework, developed with input from K-12 partner districts and School of Education faculty, taught by higher education mathematics and science faculty with structured follow-up
- to increase access to challenging curriculaby middle school students through implementation of research-based curricula in mathematics and science in partner districts
- to improve diversity in the teacher pipeline coupled with enhanced preparation in mathematics and science.
The project will develop evidence-based outcomes that contribute to our understandingof how students effectively learn mathematics and science. These outcomes will be thoroughly documented through the efforts of an external evaluator. The outcomes include:
- Increased numbers of diverse, highly qualified teachers as defined by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) who are also highly effective.
- Significant growth in mathematics and science learning by middle school students and beyond.
- Reduction of the achievement gap in math and science of diverse student populations.
- Institutional change at higher education and district levels.
- Research results that will inform project and dissemination efforts.
- Statewide endorsements in mathematics and science teaching at the middle school level.
The RMMSMSP will seek to identify highly successful interventions, taking action in the latter part of the project to scale-up these interventions state-wide. Ultimately, the project should create a lasting partnership which will enhance the efficient development of mathematics/science student performance across the state of Colorado.
II.Strategic Aspects of the RM-MSMSP
Table I (below)(below) summarizes the strategic functions and shows their linkage to project activities.
- Strategies to Develop Stakeholder Support –The starting point for this activity will be the project Leadership Team. This group (defined below in the Management Plan) will, in addition to its other activities, utilize its relationship in the teaching and administrative community in Colorado to create interest and investment in the activities and outcomes of the RM-MSMSP. The Front Range BOCES for Teacher Leadership will play a key role in connecting district and higher education partners. Posters, flyers, and presentations at relevant meetings will be the outreach tools which transfer information and create interest in the project. A BlackBoard site has been created to facilitate communication among project stakeholders and make all operations transparent. Key players are listed as Hub members on MSP-Net.
- Strategies to Align Policies and Practices with the RM-MSMSP Vision and Goals –Policy alignment will be assured through a two-step process: first, problem recognition by the Management Team (see below), followed by design of appropriate remedies by the Leadership Team. In addition the project will rely upon the Leadership Team to promote awareness of local policies and practices so that project-wide awareness is ensured as well as providing a liaison between the project and its stakeholders. The overall approach will be to make steps toward attainment of the project vision and goals as efficient and effective as possible.
- Strategies for Assuring Project Effectiveness – The Evaluation Plan (Section V, below) describes the overall approach to evaluation of the RM-MSMSP. The project will use logic models to provide a project related framework to structure the evaluation effort in order to show the relationships between Inputs/Activities and Outputs/Outcomes. Of course, effectiveness will be linked to the four key goals of the project: effective implementation, enhanced teacher quality, access to challenging curricula and improved diversity, quality, and availability in the teacher pipeline. In addition, an Action Research model of formative evaluation feedback loops will be employed to ensure project response to evaluation results.
- Scale-up of Successful Interventions– Once clearly successful interventions are identified (in the third, or later, year of the project) efforts to ensure their dissemination will be pursued. A key to this will be the intensity of stakeholder support for the particular intervention as well as the evaluation-based evidence for its effectiveness.
Table I Relevance of RM-MSMSP Activities to Strategic Functions
Strongly Relevant
Relevant
Partially Relevant
Activity Categories / Design/implement RM-MSMSP interventions / Garnering support from key stakeholders / Aligning policies within RM-MSMSP and the relevant policy context / Scaling-up successful RM-MSMSP interventions
Goal 0. Implementation
- Development of Evaluation Plan, Management Plan, Implementation Plan & Strategic Plan
- Student CSAP data collection, entry, & disaggregation
- District teacher data collection, entry & disaggregation
- Creation of Management Team, Leadership Team, Leadership Team Sub-Groups, and Instructional Teams
- Development of strategic leadership practices and decision-making strategies
- Establishment of Website (courseshell) to house documents, enable threaded discussions, and facilitate communication
- Scheduling and staffing of project activities: teacher and higher education professional development, outreach activities, and assessment
1. Teacher Quality
- Development & Implementation of TCI
- Development of Content-Rich Professional Development Courses for Teachers
- Implementation of Summer Academies and regular semester-long courses for targeted teachers
- Development of Structured Follow Up curriculum
- Implementation of Structured Follow Up
- Establishment of a Certificate Program in Middle School Mathematics and Science Education
- Utilization of select professional development courses as CLAS core courses
- Statewide endorsements in mathematics and science teaching at the middle school level
- Professional development for higher education faculty
2. Access to Challenging Curricula
- Analyzing Instructional Materials (AIM)
- Summer Math/Science/Technology Camps
- After school enrichment labs
- Piloting differentiated instruction in Jeffco
- Professional development for higher education faculty in ELL and differentiated instruction
- Research into effectiveness of intervention methods and differentiated instruction
- Dissemination of effective practices among partner districts and beyond
3. Expand/Enhance Teacher Pipeline
- Recruitment of prospective teachers through summer outreach activities
- Institution of pre-service baccalaureate degree focusing on middle school math or science teaching through individually structured major
- Recruitment of prospective teachers through the statewide website with a common application process
- Pre-teacher career advisors in mathematics and science departments
- Certificate program in Middle School Mathematics Teaching and Middle School Science Teaching
- Utilization of professional development courses as CLAS core curriculum courses
- Conversion of certificate program to statewide endorsement
Table I Relevance of RM-MSMSP Activities to Strategic Functions
Strongly Relevant
Relevant
Partially Relevant
Activity Goal Categories / Design/implement RM-MSMSP interventions / Garnering support from key stakeholders / Aligning policies within RM-MSMSP and the relevant policy context / Scaling-up successful RM-MSMSP interventions
0. Implementation
a.Development of Evaluation Plan, Management Plan, Implementation Plan & Strategic Plan / /
b.Student CSAP data collection, entry, & disaggregation / / / /
c.District teacher data collection, entry & disaggregation / / / /
d.Creation of Management Team, Leadership Team, Leadership Team Sub-Groups, and Instructional Teams / / /
e.Development of strategic leadership practices and decision-making strategies / / / /
f.Establishment of Website (courseshell) to house documents, enable threaded discussions, and facilitate communication / / / /
g.Scheduling and staffing of project activities: teacher and higher education professional development, outreach activities, and assessment / / /
1. Teacher Quality
a.Development & Implementation of TCI / / / /
b.Development of Content-Rich Professional Development Courses for Teachers / / /
c.Implementation of Summer Academies and regular semester-long courses for targeted teachers / / /
d.Development of Structured Follow Up curriculum / / /
e.Implementation of Structured Follow Up / / /
f.Establishment of a Certificate Program in Middle School Mathematics and Science Education / / / /
g.Utilization of select professional development courses as CLAS core courses / / / /
h.Statewide endorsements in mathematics and science teaching at the middle school level / / / /
i.Professional development for higher education faculty / / / /
2. Access to Challenging Curricula
a.Analyzing Instructional Materials (AIM) / / / /
b.Summer Math/Science/Technology Camps / / /
c.After school enrichment labs / / / /
d.Piloting differentiated instruction in Jeffco / / / /
e.Professional development for higher education faculty in ELL and differentiated instruction / / / /
Table I Relevance of RM-MSMSP Activities to Strategic Functions
Strongly Relevant
Relevant
Partially Relevant
Activity Goal Categories / Design/implement RM-MSMSP interventions / Garnering support from key stakeholders / Aligning policies within RM-MSMSP and the relevant policy context / Scaling-up successful RM-MSMSP interventions
f.Research into effectiveness of intervention methods and differentiated instruction / / /
g.Dissemination of effective practices among partner districts and beyond / / / /
3. Expand/Enhance Teacher Pipeline
a.Recruitment of prospective teachers through summer outreach activities / / /
b.Institution of pre-service baccalaureate degree focusing on middle school math or science teaching through individually structured major / / / /
c.Recruitment of prospective teachers through the statewide website with a common application process / / / /
d.Pre-teacher career advisors in mathematics and science departments / / /
e.Certificate program in Middle School Mathematics Teaching and Middle School Science Teaching / / / /
f.Utilization of professional development courses as CLAS core curriculum courses / / / /
g.Conversion of certificate program to statewide endorsement / / / /
III. Implementation/Execution Plans. In planning for the implementation of this project, we started with the strategic relevance of our various activities. Table I flowed from that action. Then we proceeded to the mechanics of implementation. To assist with creating an integrated view of the project, we designed a logic model that delineates the input, activities, output, and outcomes for each goal. The next step was to set milestones and timelines. For that purpose we have at least oneGantt[i]chart that tracks planned progress for each goal. The overall plan for implementation of each goal can be tracked by linking these two. We do not profess that every minute detail can be matched exactly, but rather that they should be used as guidelines. Our attempt to set forth a comprehensive five year plan can be found in Table II in Appendix 1. It links the activities, goals, timeline, milestones and benchmarks. The project is in the process of collecting and analyzing baseline data prescribed by NSF for all MSP projects. The purpose of this is to characterize the initial state of the project universe: student understanding, performance, teacher quality, and statewide performance against Colorado State Assessment Program (CSAP) and other assessment instruments in order to be able to measure changes in key performance indicators key performance indicators later in the project. Thus, there will be a set of baseline data that will be adjusted as we learn which teachers will be involved in the Project, supplemented by annual updates on performance data plus data on benchmarks, and targeted outcomes achieved. Benchmarks will also be adjusted to coordinate with the baseline adjustments. The data will cover student populations in Grades 6-8 for participating schools, teachers of mathematics and science, and IHE participants.
The Strategic Plan and the Implementation Plan have been developed with a series of questions in mind. They include:
Partnership Driven: What is different, with respect to other MSPs, in the RM-MSMSP? How do we engage all the partners? What do we know about the numbers, expected involvement, etc? How are our actions in the Strategic Plan targeted to this?
Teacher Quality, Quantity, and Diversity: What is the emphasis on Professional Development in middle schools? Where will the supply of future middle school teachers come from? Are there diversity problems today? How can they be addressed? How does our Strategic Plan address these points?
Challenging Courses/Curricula: How do we decide what is challenging/advanced? What kind of support does RM-MSMSP plan to offer? What are our expectations on the linkage between participation in such courses and student achievement? If there is success, how will we use it to “advance” the work of the partnership?
Institutional Change: How do we define and measure it? How do we sustain and enhance it? What policies and practices are we targeting? What assumptions have we made with respect to the links between middle school and high school and between high school and higher education?
III-A.Implementation in Year One: The Planning Phaseof this project will be characterized by school districts and higher education faculty working with teachers to ascertain teacher content knowledge in mathematics and science, districts informing higher education faculty of their challenges and needs, and the higher education faculty helping districts determine strategies for addressing those needs through coursework development and outreach. This project initiated a planning phase, beginning in September, 2004, in which the partner districts worked with faculty at CU-Denver and the other higher education partners to analyze district needs around enhancing content knowledge and improving instructional practices for 6 – 8 grade science and math teachers. The Management Team meets biweekly and the Leadership Team meets quarterly with additional meetings as needed. The minutes for those meetings are attached to the Management Plan in Appendix 6. The Summer Outreach Programs have utilized the planning phase to prepare for the summer camps and institutes. Recruitment will be facilitated by connecting to partner school districts through the Front Range BOCES.
A Gannt chart (p. 16) summarizing the Year One Activities follows the Year One Implementation Section. There is also a Gantt chart for the Summer Camps on page 11. The following activities will be started in Year One and many will continue throughout the Project as appropriate. These include:
A-1. Analysis of Student Performance and Participation Data in Mathematics and Science(Goal 0) aggregated by school and district and disaggregated by race/ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status and disability. District data systems have the capacity to provide a disaggregated gauge of school performance and a gauge of teacher performance, thus allowing the partnership to differentiate what is provided for targeted schools and teachers (Blythe, Allen, & Powell, 1999; Johnson, 2002). Preliminary baseline data were collected by Nov. 15, 2004. District personnel assisted the Evaluation Team in the data collection.
A-2. Analyzing Instructional Materials -AIM (Goal 2) is, a process developed by Biological Science Curriculum Studies and West Ed with NSF funding. AIM was developed as a tool to help participants understand inquiry-based instruction so that they can recognize this process in instructional materials and make curricular selection based upon on informed judgment so as to improve the understanding of math and science concepts (Lamb, 2002). The Jefferson County School District (JEFFCO), the largest of the RM-MSMSP districts has evidence-based curricula in place through a process similar to AIM and will help the interested partnerdistricts implement and institutionalize this tool successfully in curriculum revision and reform. One district, Gilpin, willwants to use AIM this year. The Gilpin review will be conducted SpringSpring, 2005, by Linda Morris, PI, and Heather Barker, a Mathematics mathematics graduate student. Others districts have indicated interest in implementation of AIM at a later date. Some other districts have recently completed curricular reviews. Thus, it is not appropriate to initiate a new review at this time. Existing curricula for the districts are included in the table below. A
table of existing curricula in partner districts is included in Appendix 3.
A-3. Teacher Content (Skills and Knowledge) Inventory- TC I(Goal 1) will help districts/schools analyze teacher content and pedagogical knowledge related to teaching assignment(s) and will enable individual teachers to set goals for professional growth and development. The Inventory will align with the state’s performance-based licensing standards for teacher education in science and mathematics and help the project team develop and implement coursework to explicitly meet district needs. Assessment for the competencies will be based upon the work of Ball et al. (2002),a Weiss et al. (2003), and Bush et al. (2004) which ties content knowledge to classroom practice to enable teachers to assess their content knowledge in a supportive, effective, and non-confrontational environment. The math pilot class this spring has used the instrument developed through the University of Louisville. Dr. Bill Bush has agreed to score the tests as part of their testing the reliability of the instrument. . In science, it is possible that a science content inventory, piloted in summer, 2004, in a course taught as part of a Department of Education MSP, could be adapted for use. Contact has been made with Horizon Research to use their instrument in the Summer Academy Force and Motion course. The University of Louisville is working on other science instruments./ Development Teams are including the TCI as part of their course development. Each participating teacher will determine the content areas in which they are proficient (as determined by previous coursework and current knowledge base) as well as the content areas in which they are lacking. Each teacher can then plan a professional development sequence of courses to best meet his or her individual need. The make-up of the Development Teams with a College of Liberal Arts (CLAS) faculty, School of Education (SOE) faculty, and a K12 teacher has insured that the content of the courses is appropriate for middle school teachers. The original plan to have the TCI drive the content of the courses was not feasible because of the change in starting time for the grant coupled with the need to have courses ready for delivery in Summer, 2005..