TRC Impact and Special Projects

1. TRC Impact and Special Projects Carol L. Fletcher, Ph.D. Associate Director, TRC TRC Advisory Board Meeting March 1, 2012

2. Key components of the TRC model • All projects must … • Have a partnership between an IHE (science, math or engineering faculty) and at least 3 high-need schools or districts. IHE faculty ideally provide content training. • Serve 2 tiers of teachers – Mentor Teachers (STMs or MTMs) and Cadre Members • Mentor Teachers must participate in 100 hours of PD in the project year. • Cadre Members must participate in 12 – 24 hours of PD. • Mentors provide support to Cadre Members in their districts or at their schools. Mentors can earn up to 12 contact hours (out of the 100 required) by documented mentoring.

3. Key components of the TRC model • All projects must … • Require teachers to attend at least 40 hours of PD in the summer of 2012. Ideally a large component of this PD should be focused on development of teacher content knowledge. • Focus a minimum of 40 of the 100 contact hours of PD for Mentors on building teacher content knowledge. • Administer pre/post assessments of teacher content knowledge. • Establish agreements with schools/districts to provide standardized test scores of students in participating teachers classes where applicable.

4. Immersion Model • All projects must identify at least 5 campuses in which every teacher at a tested grade level that is focused on by the project will receive TRC training. • At least one STM/MTM must assigned to that grade level. • All other teachers must be CMs and must receive at least 24 hours of PD. • Immersion schools must agree to provide student data at the school level to the TRC.

5. DataCenter Improvements • Improved project management capability for Project Directors. • Ability to see at a glance their Project Measures as compared to requirements. • Improved ITM management. • Improved communication with Mentor teachers. • Simplified online reporting.

6. DataCenter Improvements • Greater detail regarding professional development offered by each project. • Better summaries of training events. • Tracking of teacher pre/post content assessment. • Specifying immersion schools and teachers.

7. Online RFA process • Applications for funding are now submitted completely online. • Scoring can be done online to support more external reviewers. • Information from funded applications will be automatically connected to new DataCenter for 2012-13 grant. • The application process went from over 3 cases of paper to almost none.

8. Status of 2011-2012 Grants

9. Regional Collaborative Events Mentor Training • 666 events addressing life science or biology • 316 events addressing environmental science • 549 events addressing algebra • 344 events addressing geometry

10. Area of Concern? • In current grant, only 21% of training events for mentors are noted as “required.” • New grant application looking closely at instructional timelines to evaluate the cohesiveness of the program offered to STMs and MTMs. • TRC staff will monitor this through the DataCenter.

11. Mid-Career STEM Teacher Recruitment Project

12. Mid-Career Goals The goals for the program are to increase the number of certified science and mathematics teachers in Texas during the grant period through: • Recruitment of mid-career professionals with degrees in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology fields to teach in Texas schools; • Teacher training and certification in science and mathematics; • Job placement of new science and math teachers into high-needs LEAs; • Mentoring after certification and placement.

13. Mid-Career Highlights • The program began in September 2008. • Approximately $400,000 has been allocated for the 2011-2012 grant period. • Subgrantsare currently awarded to Texas A&M System and Texas State University.

14. Mid-Career Accomplishments To date, 192 science and mathematics teachers have received certificationthrough the Mid-Career Teacher Recruitment Program and 75 recruits are currently targeted for the program to become Texas science and mathematics teachers.

15. Beginning Teacher Induction and Mentoring Project

16. Background The TRC implemented the Beginning Teacher Induction and Mentoring (BTIM) Program for Texas science and mathematics teachers in September 2009 through a grant from the Texas Education Agency.

17. BTIM Purpose & Impact The program is designed to increase retentionof beginning science and mathematics teachers by assigning a qualified mentor teacher to each classroom teacher who has less than two years of teaching experience.

18. BTIM Cycle 3b Impact • Grant period: October 2009 to April 2011 • Funding: $4,040,842 • 831* beginning science & mathematics teachers served • 436 mentors • 476 campus served • * Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011

19. BTIM Cycle 4b • Grant period: • New projects: March 2011 to June 2012 • Continuation projects: May 2011 to June 2012 • Funding: $5,000,000 • 854 beginning teachers served • 472 mentors • 465 campuses served

20. BLOCKS Early Childhood Research Grant

21. National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant • Designed to begin the dialogue toward understanding where K-2 science teaching and learning should begin • Different Science Content Focus Each Year • Year 1 – Physical Science • Year 2 – Life Science • Year 3 – Earth Science • 50 Austin area teachers • 25 teacher researchers • 25 comparison group teachers Building Base Line Objectives for Children’s Knowledge and Skills in Science