|
Improving Measurement and Geometry in Elementary Schools (IMAGES) is an initiative of the Pennsylvania State Team of the Mid-Atlantic Eisenhower Consortium for Mathematics and Science Education at Research for Better Schools (RBS). In recent years the Pennsylvania State team has sponsored a variety of high-quality mathematics and science professional development initiatives in seven regions throughout the Commonwealth. While each effort was designed to improve mathematics and science teaching and learning, the impact was not statewide. In addition, school districts continue to strive for all of their students to meet or exceed Pennsylvania's rigorous academic standards, as demonstrated by their successful performance on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA).
To fulfill its goal of improving the quality of mathematics and science teaching in the Commonwealth, the Pennsylvania State Team members conducted a study of student performance in mathematics and science. Results from assessments such as TIMSS, NAEP, and PSSA, as well as anecdotal data from team members and the Pennsylvania Intermediate Unit curriculum coordinators, identified geometry and measurement as areas of student performance that continue to need improvement. These findings inspired the team to devote its resources and expertise to design and support a statewide K-5 professional development program that focused specifically on these areas. To have statewide impact, the team believed the initiative needed to include several elements that are integral to developing local school capacity:
 | rich, rigorous academic content in geometry and measurement for K-5 teachers
| | strategies to develop the skills and concepts students must have to meet or exceed Pennsylvania's measurement and geometry standards
| | a trained cohort of educators, who would be prepared to use professional development materials and protocols, to share the content, assessment strategies, instructional resources and instructional activities with their colleagues in their school and surrounding schools
| | support for the trained cohort after the initial train-the-trainer summer institutes
| | continuing professional education hours or graduate credit applicable to meeting the Act 48 re-certification requirements
| | a dynamic presence on the Web, with a site that will continue to grow and change, based on feedback and use of the materials.
| |
|
IMAGES was conceived and designed over 10 months by a statewide team of educators who serve in a wide range of positions, including faculty and staff from the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Office of Post-Secondary and Higher Education, Pennsylvania's public and private schools, a private university, a community college, and professional development providers.
It is the belief of the development team that IMAGES and its instructional program will improve teachers' content knowledge, increase their use of best practices, change attitudes toward geometry, and provide a better understanding of how students learn. The hope is that this will make a dramatic difference in participant classrooms while providing a means to improve student performance on measures of standards-based curricula such as the PSSA.
|
