Putting All Students on Track: A Partnership to Ensure Success in College Level Mathematics

New testing requirements have resulted from the passing of Senate Bill 130 in 2006 by the General Assembly, which requires that all Kentucky students take the EXPLORE in 8th grade, the PLAN in 10th grade, and ACT in 11th grade to determine readiness for college level course work. Beginning Spring 2008 all students in Kentucky will take the ACT. The challenge is how to help all students develop the aspirations and skills to be successful in postsecondary settings. Administering the ACT statewide is uncharted territory with only four states (Kentucky, Michigan, Illinois, Colorado) implementing such a requirement. Schools are just now beginning to understand all that the Senate Bill entails. Much support is required. The project goal is to develop and field test strategies to help all students achieve success in high school mathematics as measured by the ACT. This goal will be accomplished by: Objective 1: Increase counselor, teacher, and administer awareness of college readiness standards and work keys information . Objective 2: Provide teachers with strategies to align ACT college readiness standards to the Kentucky Program Studies . Objective 3: Empower teachers with specific ideas that can be used to raise student performance on summative assessments (e.g., ACT, PLAN, EXPLORE) . Objective 4: Develop and use strategies specifically aimed at increasing capacity of special needs students to know and do the mathematics outlined by ACT, ADP benchmarks and Kentucky Program of Studies . Objective 5: If year 2 funding is provided, the group will Develop senior level courses allow for application ofK-ll mathematics to ensure college readiness. The long term goal is to reduce the mathematics achievement gaps in participating middle and high schools as they increase their understanding of Algebra and Geometry concepts as measured by the ACT and KCCT. This proposal is targeted to work with 45 regular and special education teachers of from two high need and GEAR UP Kentucky districts, Madison and Rockcastle Counties. "Putting All Students on Track: A Partnership to Ensure Success in College Level Mathematics" is targeted at grades 7-12 regular and special education teachers who have responsibility, either individually or collaboratively, for teaching algebra and geometry content to students. The project consists of three components to meet these needs: 1. 3-day institute centered on helping the teachers construct an in-depth understanding of the components of the ACT's Educational Planning and Assessment System (EP AS). Ensure alignment of local curriculum documents to ADP college readiness standards. Begin a collaborative inquiry into data sources that will help to determine individual student strengths and weakness. Participants will then identify and design interventions that will be piloted and that can be used for accelerated remediation; 2. on-going mentoring and network of support for the participants through local cadre meetings and a listserv both facilitated by Regional Teacher Partners (RTPslMaster Teachers) and Gail Stringer, Mathematics Chair, Somerset Community College; 3. 5 six hour follow-ups held during the academic day (3 days at the school site and 2 days as a whole group) in which participants will continue to work on intervention strategies and data analysis and the middle school project participants mentor colleagues to develop a common foundation of understanding regarding EPAS. The evaluator, Gerry Swan, will assess the project's effectiveness and assist with the development of the final evaluation report for CPE. Through a broad partnership led by the Partnership Institute for Math and Science Education Reform (PIMSER) at the University of Kentucky, the institute design and subsequent facilitation will utilize the expertise from the partnership. This partnership involves close collaboration between the University of Kentucky (College of Education), Somerset Community College, the PIMSER at the University of Kentucky, the Appalachian Rural Systemic Initiative (ARSI) developed Master Teacher Project (RTPs) (Attachment 4), and 3 high-needs schools within 2 school districts. Forty-five participants comprised of all the special education teachers and regular education math who teach mathematics in grades 7-12 have already been identified and their district and school has agreed to release them during the academic year so they can fully participate if the "Putting All Students on Track: A Partnership to Ensure Success in College Level Mathematics" proposal is funded.