Education Development Center, MathScape (STM): Satellite Information and Services

The primary goal of the EDC Satellite Center will be to work in collaboration with the Show-Me Center, the K-12 Center at EDC, NSF-funded systemic initiative and teacher enhancement projects, and Creative Publications to support school districts that choose to implement the MathScape: Seeing and Thinking Mathematically curriculum. This Satellite's specific activities will be in the areas of leadership development; developing implementation and teacher preparation materials; information collection and dissemination about the curriculum itself and its impact on students; and on-line support for district leaders and for teachers using the curriculum. It will also create a guide to where technology is called for in all five of the new middle school curricula.

In addition to collaborating with the Show-Me Center on general issues of selecting and implementing a new middle school curriculum and with the other satellite centers on the tasks that apply to all the curricula, the EDC satellite center will include among its project activities the following:

• General dissemination activities, including conference presentations and preparation of articles and chapters about the curriculum.
  
  
• Provide summer institutes and ongoing support for leadership staff from school districts and for national consultants who will work with school districts. These institutes, and related resources and activities (see below), will focus on supporting those individuals who will be responsible for developing implementation plans and providing professional development for teachers in local districts. This work builds upon project collaborations with the California Middle School Mathematics Renaissance Project, the Boston-area Project Transition, the Indiana Middle Grades Improvement Project, and others. A number of district leaders and consultants will participate in institutes held at EDC. Each individual will attend an institute held for several days during one summer and a shorter follow-up institute the following summer. Contact will be maintained during school years via phone, email, and the project Web site.
  
  
• Develop a series of workshop kits and curriculum implementation support materials, to be provided to districts adopting the curriculum.
  
  
• Collect and disseminate information from early adopting districts, including implementation strategies, alternative configurations of the curriculum, teacher reports, collections of students' work, and evidence of impact upon students' learning. The project staff will also gather and synthesize feedback to assist in the development of additional materials and future revisions of the curriculum.
  
  
• Continue ongoing development of a Web site containing information about the curriculum along with on-line discussion forums.
  
  
• Develop a guide to where technology is used in the five NSF-funded middle school curricula. This guide will be made available to others through the Show-Me Center's Web site.