Notes+from+the+2011+Regional+Conference+in+Baltimore

Notes from the 2011 MSP Regional Conference - Baltimore, MD

**Kalamazoo Area Algebra Project****- Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo Area Mathematics & Science Center, and southwest Michigan schools -** Project is designed to help 6th - 12th grade teachers improve the teaching and learning of algebra and pre-algebra concepts.
 * 2/14 - PD Models**


 * Northeastern University Center for STEM Education -** School teachers partner with university STEM instructors to collaboratively develop courses for Boston-area districts

Detailed table discussions re: models of PD, challenges, successes, recommendations to SDE


 * 2/15 -**


 * Presentation of annual report**

MSP title will be changed to Effective Teaching and Learning: STEM Teach grants will become the Presidential Teaching Fellows program. This will offer tuition assistance to talented college students who are majoring in science. It will offer them a free extra year to train them to become teachers and they will teach science in a high-needs district. Goal is to increase number of science teachers by 100k.
 * Presentation from Michael Lech, STEM advisor to Arnie Duncan**
 * New budget proposed to congress. Some highlights:**

Roundtable questions: What is the direction of STEM education in your state? What are the major advantages of STEM education in your state? What are the major roadblocks to STEM education in your state?

6 Priorities Around Common Core Standards
 * Keynote: Implementing Math and Science Initiatives at the Federal and State Levels: What Needs to Happen to Move Forward**
 * Jere Confrey, North Carolina State University**
 * Phasing In
 * By time
 * By learning trajectories
 * Simultaneously: new curricular development, general support systems, assessments, building technological infrastructure, PD systems


 * Smartly coupling curriculum and classroom assessment via the CCSS
 * Formative assessment
 * Diagnostic assessment
 * Classroom assessment - students are using smart phones to take diagnostics, data is reported to the teacher, and teacher can make decisions. Phones also used for practice; students can text while teachers have access to all texts. Publishers are developing systems for smart phones, Nintendo DS, etc. Need to plan for the future.
 * Defining & Deploying ALL CCSS in Math and ELA, including 15% over the CC
 * Need to look at the ELA Standard regarding scientific and technical reading and writing


 * Developing advanced **systems** for PD around points 1-3


 * Use longitudinal data systems to decipher and study curricular effectiveness and provide empirical support for change

//"It is time to recognize that Standards are not just promises to our children, but promises we intend to keep." CCSS 2010, p.5//
 * "Care and Feeding of the Standards"

MSPnet - connects all the projects
 * R & D at the NSF - Presented by James Hamos, Division of Undergraduate Studies**

MSP Knowledge Management and Dissemination (KMD) Project - has literature detailing research around MSP, and MANY resources for PD, including assessment instruments are being used

MathSpecialists.orgOffers professional designations/rationale for Elementary Mathematics Specialists. Virginia is a vanguard state in the development and support of the math specialist position.

[|University of Texas at Austin's Cockrell School of Engineering] - is partnered with the Austin Independent School District to enable teachers to teach curricula to enable their students to discover the world of engineering. Project is called UTEACH.

Learning Progressions in Science - An Evidence-Based Approach to Reform

[|MSP - Motivation Assessment Program] - Over 250 resources re: teacher motivation and professional development

TEACH.gov - Everything anyone would need to know about the teaching profession, including financial aid options, alternate route programs, career pathways, loan forgiveness programs, and job listings.
 * Breakout Session: Teacher Effectiveness, Teach.gov, Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF)**

__**Teacher Quality Program (TQP) -**__ **Transition to Teaching -** Recruit and retain highly qualified midcareer professionals, recent college graduates, and highly qualified paraprofessionals in high-need schools and high-need school districts. This is an ALTERNATE ROUTE program. TEAMS Project - Teachers Empowering All Students in Math and Science Summer Institute +3 follow-up days during the year "Touch Ten Seminars" TEAMS participants plan and implement targeted PD based upon the needs and interests in their buildings (at least 10 hours)
 * Troops to Teachers** - Recruits, prepares, certifies, and supports military personnel as teachers in high-poverty schools.
 * Teacher Quality Program** - Improve student achievement through improving preparation of prospective teachers, enhancing professional development activities for teachers, recruiting highly qualified individuals, and holding teacher preparation programs at institutions of higher education accountable for preparing highly qualified teachers.
 * Advanced Credentialing Program** - National Board Certification
 * Teacher Incentive Fund - [|www.ed.gov/programs/teacherincentive]** - Program supports projects that develop and implement Performance Based Conversation Systems (PBCS) for teachers, principals, and other personnel
 * Absolute Priority 1 - Differentiated levels of compensation for effective teachers; must include observation-based assessments of teachers & principals multiple times during the year
 * Absolute Priority 2 - Fiscal sustainablity of the PBCS
 * Absolute Priority 3 - Comprehensive Approaches to the PBCS
 * Absolute Priority 4 - Use of Value-Added Measures of Student Achievement
 * Competitive Priority 5 - Must include hard to assess topics, i.e. math/science
 * Breakout Session: Developing Teacher Leaders through a Focus on Inquiry in Math and Science (NC)**


 * 2/16**

Our nation’s future hinges on our ability to prepare our next generation to be innovators in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Yet far too few of our students are prepared for the challenges ahead, and other countries are leaving us in their wake. Now, more than 110 companies are joining forces to work with schools and communities to **change the equation** for our youth and our nation.
 * Plenary Session**
 * Change the Equation: Math & Science Partnerships: Leveraging Business for STEM Education Reform** -

Suggested Reading - The Talent Codeby Daniel Coyle
 * Keynote**
 * STEM Education Across the Administration: What Universities Can Do**

Elementary Education majors are by FAR the most novice in their attitudes and perception of the relevance of science in the curriculum!

What every teacher should know: Components of effective teaching/learning
 * Motivation (lots of research)
 * Connect with prior thinking
 * Apply what is known about short and long term processing and memory by the brain
 * Explicit authentic practice of expert thinking. Extended & strenuous. Timely & specific feedback.