TRANSITIONS
TRANSITIONS is a mathematics science partnership between faculty from the COMPLETE Center at George Mason University (GMU) and nine school divisions that include seven continuing partners:
- Arlington County
- Frederick County
- Fauquier County
- Loudoun County
- Manassas City
- Prince William County
- Virginia Council for Private Education
and two new partners:
- Manassas Park
- Roanoke Public Schools
Using a blended approach with high quality onsite professional development (PD) through teacher, coaches and principal institutes, on-site/virtual follow up seminars and contentfocused coaching (through Lesson Study) and GMU Math e-learning Network (content-focused webinars, video clips and research lessons as exemplars that align with the 2009 SOL standards), the center will provide sustained, intensive, and high-quality PD to 405 participants directly over the three-year project period that includes 270 math teachers, special educators, and teachers of Limited English Proficient (LEP) students, 90 teacher coaches and 45 principals that will address needs identified in the school/district PD plan.
The focus of this proposal will be on transition across grade levels (elementary-middle and middle-high) with a goal to:
- Deliver content–focused professional development and coaching, integrating research based practices aligned to the 2009 Virginia SOL for mathematics content (with focus on computational fluency, algebraic thinking and proportional reasoning), classroom strategies, and student assessment standards;
- Provide targeted opportunities for meaningful mathematics learning to underrepresented populations to increase the academic achievement of special education, LEP and economically disadvantaged students;
- Develop need-based on-site and e-learning professional and curricular resources to enhance teacher learning through collaborative network to ensure that teachers are able to participate in high-quality PD that result in improved teaching practice and enhanced student learning.