The University of Kentucky College of Education’s Institute for Educational Research is sponsoring a colloquium on “The Appalachian Math & Science Partnership: Data and Research Opportunities” to be held Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008. The event will run 2-3:30 p.m. in the Taylor Education Building Auditorium.

Faculty and graduate students are invited to hear background on the National Science Foundation-funded AMSP initiative from Wimberly Royster, AMSP co-principal investigator and UK Vice President for Research, Emeritus; John Yopp, Project Director of AMSP and Associate Provost for Educational Partnerships; and Harold Peach, Research Data Analyst. The focus of discussion will be on the opportunities present to mine project data and conduct research studies. Refreshments will be served.

In 2002, the National Science Foundation provided a funding opportunity to strengthen the vision of the No Child Left Behind legislation. The Foundation’s effort to assist in accomplishing this was the “Mathematics and Science Partnerships,” which focus on uniting school districts with mathematics, science, engineering and education faculty members from colleges and universities. The University of Kentucky received over $24 million in funding to be the lead institution for the Appalachian Mathematics and Science Partnership (AMSP). The five-year program involved nine higher education partners (IHEs) and 56 K-12 school districts in four states. The overarching goals are raising student achievement and building a high-quality teacher work force in mathematics and science education.

To address this challenge the AMSP focused on what it called “lines of investment.” These include in-service teacher enhancement, pre-service teacher enhancement, school program improvement, leadership development, research and evaluation. AMSP is in the process of finalizing 25 individual activities, some of which involved more than one line of investment. A data management system was developed to maintain and organize the vast information involving 115 IHE faculty members, 2,200 K-12 mathematics and science teachers, and 175,000 students. Presently there are only nine ongoing or completed research projects associated with the AMSP.

For more information on this colloquium, contact Dr. Steve Clements, IER Director, at (859) 257-3792 or stephen.clements@uky.edu.

Updated on January 25, 2008 10:59 by the Webmaster - Content by Brad Duncan