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Improving Teacher Quality

CAGiSM- Closing the Achievement Gap in Science and Mathematics

Grant Number: 09-609

Grant Award: $986,120

Duration of Project: Friday, September 25, 2009 - Monday, September 30, 2013

Project Subject Areas: Mathematics, Science, and English

Grade Band: 7th-8th

Institutes of Higher Education:

  • California State University, Sacramento

Local Education Agencies:

  • Sacramento City Unified, Sacramento

School Sites:

  • Fern Bacon Middle, Sacramento
  • Kit Carson Middle, Sacramento
  • Rosa Parks Middle School, Sacramento
  • Will C. Wood Middle, Sacramento

Number of teachers/principals/highly qualified paraprofessionals participating in the project:

40

Goals:

Teachers:
Deeper understanding of the subject, wider repertoire of pedagogical content knowledge, including strategies for academic language development, and more differentiation of instruction that is more driven by assessment.

Students:
Meaningful understanding of the subject, better academic language development and performance on CST, and more persistence in subject and school in general.

Schools:
Implementation of district initiatives related to equity, better collaborative culture among teachers, principals and teachers, and better morale and sense of success at school site.

Activities:

Professional development model involves:
  • teacher action research during the first year on a key issue related to the achievement gap in their classroom or at their school
  • two 5-day summer institutes focused on deepening learning related to project goals and findings from action research
  • academic year lesson study for years 2 and 3, and
  • follow up activities through content-focused short courses

Anticipated Outcomes:

SMALDI anticipates improvements in:
  • teacher content and pedagogical knowledge
  • teacher ability to meet student learning needs
  • student conceptual understanding
  • learning and engagement in school
  • enhanced collaboration within and across math and science departments at partner schools

Contacts:

Project: John Gargani, Research Director, john@gcoinc.com
Institute of Higher Education: Judi Kusnick, Co-Director, kusnickje@csus.edu
Institute of Higher Education: Pia Wong, Project Director, wongp@csus.edu
Local Education Agency: Beatriz Chaidez, LEA Co-Director,

Questions, Comments, Corrections?

Send an e-mail to Teacher_Quality@cpec.ca.gov .