The University of South Florida Polytechnic’s Division of Education has embarked on a project to improve STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education for up to 96 teachers in Polk County public schools.

Project ASAP — Accelerated STEM Academic Pipeline — is a collaboration between USF Poly’s Division of Education, Polk County Schools, and the Helios Education Foundation. A $950,000 ASAP grant is funded through a competitive process sponsored by the Helios Education Foundation and will provide tuition and scholarships for middle school math and science teachers.

Polk County Schools administrators, together with Drs. John Liontas, Roderic Brame, Vanessa Pitts Bannister, Ruth Sylvester, and Tom Freijo of  USF Poly, developed the ASAP program to provide 12 graduate credits in integrated STEM education.

Faculty in the Division of Education conducted several focus groups with middle school teachers in Polk County to determine their needs. The program aims to enhance the pedagogical content knowledge of teachers by adding expertise in not only science and math content but also on how to teach STEM subjects more meaningfully to students.

“As a country we are in desperate need of engineers,” said Brame, co-principal investigator of Project ASAP. “In our region, many students are involved with robotics teams and competitions. These activities offer excellent tools for building expertise in engineering, problem solving, and programming. The problem is that many teachers are not so comfortable or knowledgeable in robotics. Therefore, we decided to find a new way to use robotics and engineering to teach core math and science concepts while using a hands-on, minds-on approach to teaching and learning.”

Liontas, co-principal investigator of Project ASAP and director of the Division of Education, agrees.

“We thought it would be amazing to bring robotics into the classroom,” he said. “If we did just that, we would have a big head start in building capacity in STEM.

“The next step in ascertaining whether the teaching and learning is meaningful to students is to make certain they have great skills in literacy. Students need to be able to read, write, and speak with deeper understanding in STEM. All of the strategies used to build literacy in STEM are also helpful to any student with low reading or writing skills. It is especially helpful for students who are English language learners.”

Project ASAP offers a graduate certificate in STEM education. All courses—Math Content, Math Inquiry, Science Content, Science Inquiry, Integrated STEM, and Literacy in STEM—are infused with inquiry, problem-based learning, positive group interaction, and literacy components. Engineering and technology are integrated throughout coursework, and innovative, research-based, best practices are highlighted within collaborative hands-on applications. Participants will develop knowledge and expertise and will apply curricula samples in their own classrooms.

For example, Math Content and Inquiry will incorporate important topics of number, algebra, geometry, and probability and statistics from a secondary teaching perspective. The activities will emphasize problem solving, reasoning, communication, connections, and representation in developing classroom materials and methods.

Similarly, Science Content and Inquiry will integrate energy throughout other core concepts within earth, life, and physical sciences, and will focus on developing techniques for a student-centered, problem-based learning environment.

Conversely, Integrated STEM will bring together core math and science concepts from individual courses by integrating math and science to build a curriculum that meets state and national standards and college-readiness standards. Problem-based Learning will be embedded and integrated with engineering and technology, while Literacy in STEM will integrate reading for comprehension and writing to gain understanding in the content disciplines, emphasizing differentiated instruction while meeting the needs of ESE (exceptional student education, including visually impaired) and ELL (English language learner) populations.

“Given the array of courses specifically designed and developed for Project ASAP, I have no doubt that our approach will engage teachers and students in activities and reflective discussions and writings by creating an interdependent learning environment in which all students can learn and succeed,” said Liontas. “I have, therefore, great confidence in our team and community partners to develop course concepts that both align with and support Polk County School Board curriculum. Together we can enhance content knowledge through effective teaching and learning practices. Together we can move mountains.”

The first cohort of 32 teachers begins its coursework in January 2012. Over the next three years that number of teachers will grow to 96 and will impact the lives of some 60,000 students in the Polk County School District.

“We are grateful for the opportunity the Helios Education Foundation has provided us and remain steadfast in realizing their commitment to engaging minds and enriching lives through education,” said Liontas.

“All of us involved in Project ASAP are looking forward to meeting and exceeding the needs of our middle-school mathematics and science teachers and students. This collaborative initiative supports both state and national initiatives and is, even more important, perfectly aligned with the Florida Strategic Plan for improving STEM education.

“Let us not forget that the beating heart of the program is to build a community of students who are highly skilled and competitive in tomorrow’s workforce and academia. We want to help make our region economically and intellectually viable. Project ASAP is a much needed step in that direction.”

Helios Education Foundation is the largest nonprofit organization serving Arizona and Florida focused solely on education, and is dedicated to enriching the lives of individuals by creating opportunities for success in postsecondary education. The foundation’s goal is to increase the number of young adults successfully completing postsecondary education with the skills and knowledge necessary to compete in a global economy, leading to an improved quality of life.

The University of South Florida Polytechnic’s Extended University is now accepting applications for training for the Florida Childcare Professional Credential (FCCPC) program.

Extended University will offer two options: Cohort One: Jan. 28 – June 16, 2012. Saturdays 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Cohort Two: July 14 – Dec. 8, 2012. Saturdays 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Cost: $550.

FCCPC training is a comprehensive program that provides a foundation for work in early childhood programs serving children from birth to age five. Students who complete the program receive an FCCPC that meets the Florida staff training licensing requirements. The training consists of a minimum of 120 clock hours of early childhood instruction, 80 contact hours, and at least two methods of formal assessment that offers “Birth through Five” certification.

Minimum requirements: High school diploma or GED, and must be at least 18 years of age.

For more information contact Christina Pixley cpixley@poly.usf.edu or (863) 667-7741.

To help reduce the demographic disparity between students and teachers, Polk County Public Schools has partnered with the University of South Florida Polytechnic to actively recruit and provide scholarships to future male and minority school teachers. The $12.1 million funding comes from Race to the Top, a $4.35 billion U.S. Department of Education competition grant designed to spur innovation and reforms in state and local district K-12 education.

Called Project PRIDE (Planning and Rewarding Instructional Diversity in Education: Building the Future One Minority Teacher at a Time), the program will recruit, select, matriculate, graduate, and place at least 42 well-trained, highly effective teachers in high-poverty/high-minority elementary schools in Polk County.

“Minorities are underrepresented in the classroom, not with students, but with teachers,” said Dr. John Liontas, director of the Division of Education at USF Polytechnic and principal investigator on the project.

“Without a significant infusion of minority teachers, the student-teacher racial/ethnic disparity, if remaining unaddressed, will only become more exacerbated in the years ahead.”

The three-year $1.2 million grant began Nov. 15 for the first year of the project. Partners include USF Poly’s Division of Education, Polk County Public Schools, and Polk State College.

The project will offer financial support for students to earn a bachelor’s degree in education from USF Poly in return for a promise to teach in a Polk County elementary school one year for each year of financial support received.

The value of adult role models is well established, said Dr. Tom Freijo, measurement and research instructor at USF Poly and co-principal investigator on Project PRIDE.

“In Polk County, as in many school districts across the country, there is a large difference in the demographic makeup of elementary school students and their teachers,” he said. “For instance, it is possible that a male student, a black student, or a Hispanic student will go through elementary grades without encountering a teacher who shares his or her demographic characteristics.

“By actively recruiting prospective teachers from underrepresented demographic groups, preparing them to be teachers, and placing them in high-need schools, Project PRIDE will make large strides toward assuring that all students will have an opportunity during elementary school to see ‘someone who looks like them’ at the front of the classroom.”

According to Liontas, the influx of students who do not speak English at home, along with the lack of at least a similar increase in the number of minority teachers, has created a rift in programs that aim to improve student success rates.

“In this country, more than 90 percent of recent immigrants come from non-English speaking countries, and between the years 2030 and 2050, school-aged children now labeled minorities will be the majority in U.S. schools,” he said.

“Polk County—the eighth largest county in Florida with approximately 2,000 square miles, and one of the largest concentrations of population in the southeast with more than 7.5 million people living within a 100-mile radius—has had a population growth of nearly 25 percent from 2000 to 2010. During that time, the minority black and Hispanic populations have seen an even more dramatic growth of nearly 36 percent and 132 percent, respectively.”

Liontas stressed that the number of minorities in Polk County schools will continue increasing.

“Project PRIDE will help lessen the difference,” he said. “Mostly, we want to greatly reduce the disparity between minority students and teachers who look like them.”

The research team at USF Polytechnic’s Center of Research, Policy Analysis, and Evaluation will conduct both a process evaluation and a product evaluation to measure the project’s overall impact under a separate contract for the school district. In addition, the evaluations will help potential teachers meet high standards through supplemental professional development workshops held for participants each year of the project before they are placed in schools.

Project PRIDE aims to recruit a pool of at least 90 minority applicants to the program, at least half of whom will be males; select from the pool of applicants the highest qualified 45 applicants, at least half of whom will be males; matriculate 45 program participants in USF Poly’s elementary education program, at least 42 of whom will graduate and be eligible for Florida Department of Education certification; and place at least 42 program participants in high-poverty/high-minority elementary schools in Polk County.

According to Freijo, Project PRIDE also mirrors key polytechnic concepts.

“Part of the unique mission of a polytechnic university is to bridge the gap between what is often seen as the ‘ivory tower’ of academia and the real needs that exist in institutions and businesses in the community,” he said. “USF Polytechnic’s Project PRIDE faculty and administrators, in concert with administrators and teachers from Polk County public schools, will frame solutions to a very real problem.”

Results of the program will be presented as a model for improving education at local, regional, state, and national conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals and online venues.

Dr. Naomi Boyer, an author of the Project PRIDE proposal and Polk State’s assistant to the vice president for special projects, said Polk State will identify qualified, promising students and assist them in applying to Project PRIDE. In doing so, Polk State will create a pipeline of students from which USF Poly will select participants.

“Polk State continues to work with other educational institutions in our community to provide access to quality higher education,” said Boyer, who also represents Polk State on the Project PRIDE executive team. “We are pleased to identify local qualified candidates to participate in the program as a partner with USF Polytechnic and Polk County Public Schools.”

Dr. Sherrie Nickell, superintendent of Polk’s public schools, praised USF Poly’s Division of Education for partnering with the school district and endorsed the highly supportive design of the teacher recruitment and training project.

“We value having teachers who came up through our own system, who want to keep their families here and give back to the community’s children,” she said. “This plan will give us an opportunity to give these teachers an excellent place to work and benefit from their insights and caring.”

Denny Dunn, the school district’s interim assistant superintendent for human resources, will manage the district’s contracts with the university.

Thanks to a $10,000 grant from GEICO, the children of Polk County are finding fun and meaning in reading!

The YMCA of West Central Florida provides after school care for more than 400 children at 20 sites around Polk County. Thanks to GEICO’s support, the YMCA was able to invest in the Making Meaning literacy curriculum which teaches comprehension strategies with read-aloud books. The read-aloud component also encourages social skills and a supportive peer community of readers!

Every day after school, the YMCA is a safe place for school children to play sports and be physically active, build character, eat healthy snacks and receive much needed academic support. Parents can continue literacy successes at home by reading to children, asking children to read to them, and finding teachable moments such as reading recipes and writing grocery lists!

To find out more about the YMCA and after school programs around the county, visit YMCAWCF.org or call (863) 644-3528.

You may have seen information on our blog about the College & Career Campaign. This group of Public School boosters has set out to save the College & Career services provided to students in many Polk County high schools.

With just weeks to go before the start of the school year, these counseling services are still at risk of discontinuation. The College & Career Campaign Committee has organized an event to put us all face-to-face with the counselors and learn more about the benefits and services they provide to local students.

Everyone is invited to attend!

Thursday, August 4 | 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Garden Club Building (corner of Lake Avenue & Orange Street in Downtown Lakeland)

Appetizers, wine & more

For more information about the Campaign, visit CollegeandCareerCampaign.org.