Area schools earn partnership grants

Posted: Jan. 26, 2012

Two area schools are recipients of federal Mathematics and Science Partnership Grants in Wisconsin.

The Johnson Creek STEM Partnership (the Johnson Creek School District and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater) will receive a two-year grant for $248,522. The Madison Science Partnership (Watertown and Whitewater Unified school districts) will receive a renewable grant for $213,456.

The grants are part of $1.7 million in federal funding designed to deepen the knowledge and skills of classroom teachers throughout the state.

The grants fund content-specific professional learning opportunities for mathematics and science teachers. Educators involved in the partnerships may participate in peer coaching and mentoring sessions, meet with colleagues to develop lessons or evaluation techniques that will actively engage students, take coursework that will deepen their knowledge in mathematics or science, or pursue other activities that will strengthen their understanding of how children learn these subjects.

All participating teachers attend a summer institute that directly relates to mathematics and science curricula and have followup contact throughout the project to support their own academic content learning and classroom practice. To be eligible for the competitive grants, partnerships must include at least one high-needs school district and one college or university. To meet the definition of "high-needs," district results on statewide mathematics or science assessments must fall below the 65 percent proficiency level. Additionally, the district must have: at least 10 percent of its students from families with income below federal poverty guidelines; have a Rural Education Achievement Program or meet local census codes for rural communities; or have missed adequate yearly progress in mathematics based on 2010-11 state test score data.

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