University of Colorado at Denver and HealthSciencesCenter
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Nov. XX, 2004
Contact
Michele Ames
Downtown Denver Office of Media
303-556-2523
DENVER – Educators and parents concerned by poor CSAP results in middle school math and science can take heart: the downtown Denver campus of the University of Colorado at Denver and HealthSciencesCenter has received a $12.5 million National Science Foundation grant to provide professional development curriculum aimed at training teachers to better reach and effectively educate these students.
The grant is part of a larger NSF effort to improve education in the areas of math and science. In total, the National Science Foundation awarded $31 million this year for work over the next five years.
Doris Kimbrough,a chemistry professor at the downtown Denver campusand the of the principal investigator on the project, explained some Colorado math and science teachers currently do not meet the “highly qualified” designation set by the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind Act. Highly qualified is defined as having completed 24 credit hours of specified math and/or science courses.
Because there is no middle school licensure in Colorado, “you may have some math or science teachers who have taken one or two or no math or science classes,” Kimbrough explained.
In the 2002 CSAP results, about one-half of Front Range sixth- through eighth-graders were below proficient levels in math and nearly one-half of eighth graders were below proficiency in science. While those numbers have show some improvement over the last two years, many Colorado students still lag well below the proficient category in both math and science.
Curriculum design work funded by the grant has already begun. One pilot course will be offered in spring 2005 and the majority of courses will be launched in summer 2005.
Carole Basile, associate dean in the School of Education and co-principal investigator in the project, said math and science teachers are in demand.
“There’s a huge shortage all over, primarily at the middle school level,” Basile stressed.
Within the next year she believes momentum will build for quality math and science teachers in middle school. She said the program will be busy striving to meet the goal to prepare 200 teachers a year. She also believes the added recognition of middle school teachers and their unique challenges will benefit instructors and students alike.
Although Basile stressed the program is in its infancy, it has received positive and supportive response throughout the targeted districts. “It’s in its infancy,” she said. “But we’ve talked to staff developers throughout the Front Range and they’re enthused.”
With a motto of “15 Months to Highly Qualified,” the curricular research coupled with program implementation is expected to have a positive impact on students and their CSAP scores within two years. The program will be designed so teachers can reach current standards for teaching within 15 months, depending on each educator’s current level of proficiency and complexity of work schedule.
“The goal of the project is for teachers to assess their own knowledge gaps and target areas of development,” Kimbrough said.
In designing the curriculum, Kimbrough is also focusing on the racial and socio-economic disparity in learning presented by the diverse school districts across the metropolitan area.
“Middle school is the turning point for many of these students,” Kimbrough said. “They start out in sixth grade OK, then get lost in the system and become discouraged. Many drop out.”
Higher education partners in the grant are the University of Denver, Metropolitan State University, Colorado State University, and FortLewisCollege. K-12 partner school districts are JeffersonCounty, Brighton, Mapleton, Adams 14, Gilpin, Elizabeth, and Englewood. Supporters include: the Front Range BOCES, the Colorado Institute of Technology, the Colorado Alliance for Minority Participation, and the Colorado Department of Education.
Teachers will attend classes either on the downtown Denver campus or one of its partners. Course follow-up and implementation will take place in classrooms at partner districts. At a future date, other districts may also be involved. Kimbrough’s fellow investigators include Carole Basile, professor in the UCDHSC School of Education, Omnia El-Hakim, of ColoradoStateUniversity, Michael Jacobson, Math Department chair at UCDHSC, and Linda Morris, Science Curriculum Coordinator of Jefferson County Schools. Barbara Bath, a retired mathematics professor from the Colorado School of Mines, will serve as Project Director.
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