DPS, UNC partnership garners $1.6 million grant to enhance math, science instruction
DURHAM—The State Board of Education has approved a $1.6 million, three-year grant to fund a new partnership between Durham Public Schools and the University of North Carolina School of Education. The project, “The Middle Grades Math and Science Partnership for Durham Public Schools,” aims to ensure that Durham’s middle school mathematics and science teachers will be considered “highly qualified” as required by the No Child Left Behind Act. The funds are part of a program of the U.S. Department of Education which supports partnerships between school systems and institutions of higher education to improve teacher quality. In the project, the Center for Mathematics and Science Education, a center of the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education, will offer two 12-semester-hour programs, including four 3-hour courses in mathematics and three 4-hour courses in science. DPS teachers will take these courses to meet the subject competencies specified in the federal requirements. Of the $1.6 million provided, the Center will receive a total of $308,168 over the three years of the project. The mathematics courses will be adapted from those developed by the Center’ s ongoing North Carolina Middle Mathematics Project. In that project, faculty from nine UNC campuses worked together to develop new courses for middle school teachers in algebra, geometry, and data analysis. A fourth course in functions will be developed for the new project. For science, UNC faculty will work with DPS teachers to create new courses in life science, physical science, and earth science. Currently, slightly less than half of DPS’ middle school mathematics and science teachers do not meet the federal “highly qualified” standard. The standard requires that a teacher have the equivalent of an undergraduate major in the subject he or she is teaching. Many middle school teachers, however, were either originally trained as elementary teachers; graduated from a teacher professional program that did not require the full subject major; or meet the highly qualified standard in either mathematics or science but now teach the other subject. The grant is one of only four awarded by the State Board for 2004-05. UNC faculty leading the project include Center Director Russ Rowlett, Center Associate Director Pat Shane, Education Professor Susan Friel, and Physics and Astronomy Professor Wayne Christensen. Durham Public Schools administrators involved in the project are Mathematics Coordinator Everly Broadway, Science Specialist Janet Scott, and Human Resources Coordinators Cicely McCrimmon and Fred Williams. “The Middle Grades Math and Science Partnership for Durham Public Schools is a wonderful opportunity for our middle school science and mathematics teachers to bolster their skills and enhance the quality of instruction they provide for our students,” said DPS Superintendent Ann T. Denlinger. “This mutually beneficial partnership with the UNC School of Education is a wonderful example of the kind of invaluable support Durham Public Schools enjoys from the postsecondary education community.”
