California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) is a four-year public university located near downtown Los Angeles in the city of Carson. The University offers 43 undergraduate majors, 19 master's degrees and a number of certificate and credential programs. Supporting these programs are excellent faculty known for their personal commitment to students. CSUDH is a ethnically-diverse university with a student population that is 35.5 percent Hispanic; 30.9 percent African American, 22.7 percent White, 10.3 percent Asian, and 0.6 percent American Indian. At CSUDH one of the 3 strongest majors is education and CSUDH is major producer of highly qualified, credentialed teachers for LAUSD.
For more information about the university in general, visit California State University, Dominguez Hills' website.
The CSUDH College of Education (COE) and the College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences (NBS) play an important role within the SCALE partnership. Leading this effort is Dr. Eunice Krinsky--Professor of Mathematics, Director of the Center for Mathematics and Science Education and SCALE Goal 3 co-Leader.
CSUDH College of Education (COE)
The COE at California State University, Dominguez Hills is comprised of a dynamic faculty who are in continuous contact with the 18 school districts in our service area. Large numbers of funded projects regularly operate in conjunction with local school districts and their staffs in support of the educational mission for the Los Angeles Basin. As well, it is the mission of the school to prepare educational professionals who are successfully engaged in work that supports and promotes public school students in California.
CSUDH College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences (NBS)
NBS seeks to improve the scientific literacy of CSUDH students by providing them with a number of opportunities for a comprehensive undergraduate education. Of course, through the departments of biology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, earth sciences, computer science, sociology and psychology, students receive a focused education and training in the sciences, which enables them to embark on careers involving science and technology or to pursue further education leading to an advanced degree.
Both schools within CSUDH are working on SCALE’s goal to further the role of post-secondary institutions (in both 2 and 4 year schools) in K12 education (Goal 3). Specifically, these efforts are focused on the design and implementation of a new environment for new teacher preparation and professional development within a cycle of synergistic support. Through the SCALE and the related Quality Educator Development (QED) projects, these programs seek to offer teachers a deeper grasp of STEM content and effective pedagogical strategies for engaging students in learning. Also, they seek to increase the number and quality of properly trained and certified mathematics and science teachers.
Further, CSUDH is contributing to the planning and execution of partnership building through conferences like the Educational Partnership Conference, held March 11-12, 2005, in Los Angeles CA. This meeting of educational professionals, STEM and Education faculty, and administrators had as its goal to extend and strengthen existing partnerships among educational organizations to better serve the mathematics and science education of all students. SCALE/QED/FOCUS Education Partnership Conference was co-sponsored by: System-wide Change for All Learners and Educators (SCALE); Quality Educator Development (QED), A U.S. Department of Education TQE Grant; and Faculty Outreach Collaborations Uniting Scientists, Students and Schools (FOCUS), A National Science Foundation Math and Science Partnership; in cooperation with the California Math Project and the California Science Project.
SCALE Math Science Partnership and the Quality Education Development (QED) Partnership ( U.S. Department of Education TQE Grant)
On September 9, 2004, Sally L. Stroup, Assistant Secretary for Post-Secondary Education, presented a "check" for $4.9M to President James E. Lyons of CSU-Dominguez Hills for the winning Title IIb proposal titled Quality Education Development (QED). QED is a partnership among CSUDH, Los Angeles Unified School District, and El Camino College that is aligned with SCALE's theory of action and will improve teacher preparation in mathematics and sciences. QED is led by Associate Dean of the College of Education at CSUDH, Joseph Braun, as PI, and Steve Cantrell (Chief Research Scientist, LAUSD) and Eunice Krinsky (Professor of Mathematics, CSUDH) as co-PIs.
Working together, the members of the QED partnership envision “smoothing the path” from the first year of college through teacher induction in order to increase the pool of highly qualified mathematics and science teachers who are willing, and more importantly, able to serve the poor, minority and limited English proficient students within LAUSD.
The QED partners will draw on the partnership's own research and rich experience with the challenges faced by students seeking to become mathematics and science teachers. They have formulated a theory of action that places the potential teacher at the center, and addresses the types of challenges that a potential teacher faces at every stage of her preparation. These three types of challenges are present from the time the student enters college to the time she has achieved confidence, based in experience, in her capacity to effectively meet the challenges of a career teaching mathematics or science in an urban district. They are:
One key connection between SCALE and QED is a role in developing the new science instructional guides, including SCALE (goal 2) immersion units that are being developed together with LAUSD for use by teachers. SCALE has created the concept of the immersion unit as a “carefully selected and designed learning opportunity in which students are engaged in the scientific process over an extended period of time (4 weeks), focusing intensely on a particular concept or big idea in the content area.” (SCALE Five-Year Strategic Plan, July 2003). The units that SCALE has developed and identified to date have as their target recipients K-12 students.
As part of the QED-promised curricula redesign to “smooth the path”, faculty and teachers from LAUSD, CSUDH and University of Wisconsin-Madison will have opportunities to define, identify, and develop immersion units. It is the intention of the QED project to develop immersion units to be used within the undergraduate lower division mathematics and science courses.
Cohorts of CSUDH students will be introduced to a curricular unit of this nature – a learning experience in which students must “organize, synthesize, and interpret information in addressing a key mathematical or scientific idea or issue.” Subsequently the pre-service teachers will, during their early fieldwork experience, see the active engagement of K-12 students with immersion units since LAUSD will be embedding these units in their new instructional guides for mathematics and science. During their post-baccalaureate methods courses the new teachers will once again be engaged with immersion units as they investigate their power as a teaching and learning tool.
California State University, Northridge is a vibrant, diverse university community of nearly 33,000 students and more than 4,000 faculty and staff, sited on a 356-acre campus in the heart of Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley.
| White | 19.7% |
| African American | 18.8% |
| Hispanic | 57.0% |
| Asian | 3.1% |
| Native American | 1.2 |
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) covers over 700 square miles of Los Angeles County, encompassing part or all of 26 cities. It is estimated that greater than 4.5 million people resided within LAUSD boundaries in 2002. In 2003-04, approximately 38,500 LAUSD teachers served more than 746,000 K-12 students in 713 schools (including 432 elementary schools, 77 middle schools, 60 high schools, and 144 schools on other formats). The total annual district budget in 2003-04 was $13.3 billion. LAUSD is divided into 11 local districts, each serving approximately 60,000 to 80,000 students. Approximately 200 LAUSD schools with heavy enrollment follow a year-round school calendar, with the remainder on a traditional calendar. In 2001-02 LAUSD teachers averaged approximately 11 years of teaching experience and approximately 70% of all teachers were fully certified.
Fall 2002 LAUSD enrollment data show the percentage of the total population accounted for by various demographic groups:
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 0.3% |
| Asian | 3.9% |
| Black, not Hispanic | 12.1% |
| Filipino | 2.1% |
| Hispanic | 71.9% |
| Pacific Islander | 0.3% |
| White, not Hispanic | 9.4% |
Approximately 76% of students in LAUSD are economically disadvantaged. Greater than 40% of LAUSD students are English Language Learners.
In 2001-2002 Los Angeles Unified School District initiated a 5-year strategic plan for improving mathematics teaching and learning. Major goals in the district plan include increased emphasis on academic rigor (e.g., teaching for understanding, problem solving) and providing all students with access to Algebra. A central feature of the district strategy is to align several instructional guidance domains-textbooks, instructional guides, professional development, and district periodic assessments-to California state standards. Curricula vary across LAUSD schools because local districts are allowed to choose from among several state-adopted texts that are also approved by the district. District mathematics instructional guides are intended to help teachers align instruction to standards by cross-walking state standards, textbook sections, and additional curricular resources. Work is underway to include model standards-based lessons or units with instructional guides. The new units will be designed as replacement units-curricula that is taught instead, rather than on top of, material already in the guide.
A new set of professional development activities will be initiated to provide support to teachers who chose to utilize model lessons or units. Instructional capacity building for model lessons will begin with district mathematics coaches who will in turn, work directly with teachers in local districts. Coaches will be supported by LAUSD's district mathematics and professional development divisions working in collaboration with mathematics and professional development experts for the University of Pittsburgh's Institute for Learning, and SCALE researchers from WCER.
The city of Madison, Wisconsin has a population of just over 208,000. The city is home to both the state capitol and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) is the second largest district in the state and serves nearly 25,000 students. The district includes 45 schools (29 elementary, 11 middle, 4 comprehensive high schools, and one alternative high school). MMSD teachers are highly educated. According to the district website nearly half have a master's degree. The average teacher in the district has more than 12 years classroom experience.
Fall 2003 MMSD enrollment data indicates the following breakdown by student group:
| White | 59.4% |
| African American | 19.8% |
| Hispanic | 10.1% |
| Asian | 10.1% |
| Native American | 0.7% |
Thirty-six percent of students are low-income. Nearly twelve percent are classified as Limited English Proficient.
Math
The district has concise K-8 grade level mathematics standards that are aligned to the state's Wisconsin Model Academic Standards. At the elementary level, a number of different math curricula are used. K-5 report cards are standards based in order to assure attention to the standards. All middle schools in the district are using the Connected Mathematics curriculum. At the high school level, all students must successfully complete Algebra I by 9th grade and Geometry by 10th grade.
MMSD currently has eight mathematics instructional resource teachers who provide professional development and support so that teachers regularly can provide every student with deep, conceptually based instruction on core mathematics concepts. Five mathematics resource teachers work at the elementary level in six schools each, two at the middle level in 5.5 schools each, and one at the high school level with all four comprehensive high schools and with alternative programs.
Science
In 1999 MMSD developed and launched a K-8 Science Scope and Sequence. Full Option Science System (FOSS) was identified as the curriculum of choice for the district and is viewed as the vehicle for implementing the Scope and Sequence. The district is currently assessing its implementation in order to identify professional development priorities.
District-wide science professional development and support is provided by two science instructional resource teachers. These teachers work with other teachers to enhance their ability to provide every student with deep, inquiry based instruction on key scientific concepts. The elementary science instructional resource teacher works with 30 elementary schools and the secondary science resource teachers provides support to the 11 middle schools and 5 high schools (4 comprehensive and 1 with alternative programs).
A secondary immersion design team has been developed through the UW-Madison Center for Biology Education to map out MMSD's Scope and Sequence and state standards, to evaluate and assess the current implementation of an immersion resource (School Yard Science) within the district, and to identify potential areas for other immersion units to supplement the curriculum.
The city of Providence, Rhode Island has a total population of nearly 174,000. The school district is the largest in the state, serving nearly 27,000 students (one sixth of all Rhode Island students). The district has 25 elementary schools, 9 middle schools, 3 comprehensive high schools, 3 smaller high schools, and 3 alternative schools.
School enrollment data show the follow breakdown by student group:
| Latino | 51% |
| Black/African American | 23% |
| White | 16% |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 9% |
Fifty-four percent of students speak a language other than English as their first language, and 22% are classified as Limited English Proficient. Eighty percent of the district's students are eligible for free or reduced lunch.
University of Pittsburgh's Institute for Learning has been working with the district since 1999 to develop the district's instructional leadership, to enhance coaches' and teachers' pedagogical content knowledge and disciplinary literacy, particularly in the areas of literacy and math.
Math
The district uses the Math Investigations curriculum at the elementary level. In addition, after an extensive review from a curriculum adoption committee, the district adopted the Connected Mathematics curriculum for use in all middle schools. The district has a scope and sequence document for math K-8, and then Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II.
Providence currently has 27 coaches currently working at the elementary school level with the Investigations math program. Tom Lester, a nationally known math trainer from WestEd, is providing training for the coaches. The district has assigned one math coach per elementary school. At the middle school level, the district is currently identifying middle school math teachers who could assume the roles of coaches.
Science
Providence developed its Scope and Sequence curriculum frameworks this year in eight different content areas. The district's scope and sequence calls for specific benchmarks by grade level and by quarter in K-12 science. Literacy is deeply integrated into the scope and sequence curriculum documents. In the area of physics, the district's strategic plan for science reform calls for Providence to become a Physics First district within the next three years-i.e., all of the 9th grade students will be enrolled in physics for the start of their high school experiences. Toward that end, the district has purposely developed the current 8th grade science scope and sequence to include physics-related themes for the second half of the year. Thus, 8th grade students will be studying energy, motion, electricity and magnetism, and other topics in anticipation of their enrollment in physics classes as 9th grade students.
Providence School District trained nine middle school teachers throughout the 2002-2003 academic year to become science teacher leaders using FOSS kits. In the summer of 2003, the district increased that capacity by training an additional 17 middle school science teachers as lead teachers providing over 48 hours of professional development by the East Bay Educational Collaborative in FOSS kits and science notebook writing. The district's plan calls for the continuing training of these teacher leaders in content knowledge and coaching strategies with all of the remaining district middle school science teachers as well as ESL/Bilingual and Special Education Teachers during the current school year by the East Bay Educational Collaborative. As of this date all middle school science teachers have received a minimum of 15 hours of professional development using FOSS kits and literacy strategies using science notebook writing. The science lead teachers will be providing training to other science teachers in the district through after school workshops and all-day professional development in-service days.
The UW STEM faculty and staff stand out nationally for their long-term productive engagement with K-12 initiatives. Such major UW STEM projects as the NSF-funded Institute for Chemical Education (ICE), Fast Plants, and Bottle Biology, have had a national and in some cases international impact on education at many different levels. Of special relevance to SCALE is UW's innovative NSF-funded GK-12 program, the K-Through-Infinity Professional Development Partnership (KTI). This program has produced a new and robust model of teams of university and school personnel working in partnership to bring latent university resources and the excitement of discovery into K-12 classrooms in a teacher-directed manner. This team model will be central in SCALE activities. The university also broke new ground with its NSF-funded National Institute for Science Education (NISE), which modeled a cross-disciplinary higher education partnership that SCALE will improve upon. NISE depended on the interest and investment of many prominent members of the UW STEM and education research communities, many of whom are involved in this partnership.
For more information about the university and the School of Education, please visit the School of Education website.
Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER)
The Wisconsin Center for Education Research was established in 1964 as one of the first and largest university-based research and development centers created under the federal Cooperative Research Act. A part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of Education, WCER provides a productive environment where some of the country's leading scholars conduct basic and applied research in education. WCER research spans the full scope of education, from the effects of infant child care and after-school programs to undergraduate curriculum reform. Much of the work focuses on the teaching, learning, and assessment of K-12 students in mathematics, science, social studies, and English.
WCER is home to centers for research on improving student learning and achievement in mathematics and science, diversity in mathematics education, behavior and reading intervention models for K-3 students, and education policy, as well as a comprehensive regional assistance center that supports schools and agencies in meeting the needs of children served under the Improving America's Schools Act. Other WCER projects focus on issues of multicultural education, special education, and the preparation of first-generation college-bound students from low-income families for postsecondary education.
Throughout its history, WCER has maintained a commitment to improving American education by studying the nature of varied learning environments and interventions and their effects on students. Of primary concern to this mission has been the question of how educational processes and social policy can best meet the needs of students from different cultural and educational backgrounds. WCER researchers have continually asked how educational best practices can be made more efficient, better supported, more strategic, and thus easier to implement.
WCER's research awards come from a variety of federal agencies and private foundations. Federal funding sources include the National Science Foundation; the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (formerly the Office of Educational Research and Improvement) and Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services; and the National Institutes of Health. Private foundation funding has come from The Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Hewlett Foundation, Joyce Foundation, Mott Foundation, and the Spencer Foundation. WCER's annual extramural funding is approximately $27 million.
WCER combines the talents of scholars from many disciplines to focus on the problems of learning, teaching, assessment, and policy, in today's education systems. Researchers come from most areas of specialization within the UW-Madison School of Education, as well as from such diverse disciplines as biology, sociology, English, law, mathematics, engineering, astronomy, and social work.
The following provide good information on WCER and the work they do:
- A good place to start to find out more on WCER's current work is to visit the Active Project section of the WCER Web site.
- To read more on the WCER staff research and news relating to the WCER visit the Publications section of the WCER site. There you will find News, Research Notes, WCER Highlights, WCER Working Paper Series, current online publications, and Archives.
For more information, please visit the Wisconsin Center for Education Research's website.