News

For Immediate Release
April 29, 2008

Science and Math teachers take center stage at annual Capitol Showcase

Professional development opportunities with Illinois Mathematics and Science Partnerships (IMSP) help teachers grow and improves student achievement

SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) joined dozens of classroom teachers, scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and experts from higher education from throughout Illinois at today’s Capitol Showcase for the Illinois Mathematics and Science Partnerships (IMSP) program. The annual event at the Illinois State Capitol showcases the professional development efforts by research partnerships statewide that work to help teachers grow, and in turn, improve student achievement.

“Today’s classrooms are incorporating technology to deliver lessons at a rapid pace,” said State Superintendent Christopher A. Koch. “No place is this more prevalent than with science and math, where teachers are taking full advantage of opportunities for rapid learning to yield student improvement.”

The IMSP program was created as part of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). It creates partnerships that are designed to meet the growing needs of students by providing ongoing professional development and unique opportunities for teachers that focus on new trends in Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics (STEM). Participants are able to share their expertise, resources and facilities with high-need local school districts and regions with the primary goal of improving student achievement in mathematics and science. The IMSP program has already served more than 3,000 teachers statewide.

“This year’s math and science innovations showcasing research partnerships take on added importance as the work gets underway for the Task Force for ‘A Public Agenda for College and Career Success,’” said Judy Erwin, IBHE Executive Director. “The Public Agenda – an action agenda – will be built to close the achievement gap, and many of the programs at the Capitol Showcase, will further this effort.”

Starting this year, new partnerships are forming with public and private universities across the state. All of the partnerships include the development and implementation of innovative graduate degree programs that will concentrate on building content expertise and leadership talents essential for Illinois’ highly qualified teachers. Twenty-four partnerships have begun work with design teams composed of classroom teachers, local administrators and college professors to create the innovative programs of study for the estimated 600 teachers who will participate. Classes will begin in some of the partnerships this summer, while others will begin during the next school year.

Here are 19 IMSP partnerships that are presenting at the Capitol Showcase. The listing is arranged by lead partners and includes partnership members:

The Champaign Unit 4 Nanotechnology Teacher Enhancement Program (CU4NTEP) is collaboration between Community Unit School District #4, the Center for Nanoscale Chemical-Electrical-Mechanical Manufacturing Systems (Nano-CEMMS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Education for Employment System #330, Parkland College, and the Army’s Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL).
The Chicago Public Schools Middle Grades Mathematics/Science Teacher Leadership Institute will provide in-depth professional development in middle grades mathematics and science for three cohorts of 30 teacher-leaders each year. Mathematicians from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and scientists from Loyola University of Chicago (LUC) are included in the partnership.
The Chicago Academy of Sciences, notably sharing the expertise from the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and the University of Illinois at Chicago is finishing its work with elementary teachers from Chicago.
The partnership between the Christian-Montgomery Regional Office of Education and the ROE #40 for Calhoun, Greene, Jersey, and Macoupin Counties, Blackburn College, Hurst Rosche Engineering Company is finishing its work this summer.
Leaders from the University of Illinois in Champaign are completing their work with teachers from Champaign as well as teachers from Bradley-Bourbonnais, integrating astronomy concepts directly in mathematics understandings and applications.
DePaul University in Chicago plans for the graduation of its candidates in its innovative Masters of Science degree program for public and private Chicago middle school teachers, boasting of uncommon connections with many of their collegiate divisions.
The Loyola University Chicago-Chicago Public Schools Physics Project will be continuing its comprehensive, three-year program that will provide 30 CPS teachers with content background to receive an endorsement in physics as they are studying and applying the latest physics and educational research.
Des Plaines Community Consolidated School District #62 and the North Cook Intermediate Service Center completes its partnership with 3 school districts, National Louis University, Oakton Community College and the Des Plaines Chamber of Commerce.
East Richland School District #1 in Olney has teamed with three other rural districts, including a local private school, Eastern Illinois University and Southern Illinois University and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to expand their existing partnership with the Embarrass River Management Association.
Eastern Illinois University partners with elementary teachers, mentored by colleagues from their own middle or high schools throughout central Illinois with special technologies associated with environmental sciences will be completed this year.
The Lee-Ogle Regional and Rock Island Offices of Education (ROE) have collaborated to replicate and extend their very successful MSP programs in two separate programs with Northern Illinois University and Western Illinois University.
Loyola University (through its Center for Science and Math Education which includes the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Education and Departments of Biology, Natural Science and Physics) completes its graduate program work with middle school teachers from Chicago Public Schools.
Teachers from Chicago, Rochelle, Havana, O'Fallon, Oak Lawn, Thornridge, Red Bud, Mascoutah, Teutopolis, Casey Westfield, Galesburg, Southeastern, Astoria, Reavis, Rushville, Lovington, and Abington schools, will participate in a project organized through the Peoria County Regional Office of Education, with Walgreen's, Southern Illinois University, Northern Illinois University, Bradley University, Western Illinois University, focus on Mathematics and Science concepts as they relate to the Transportation, Distribution and Logistics career clusters.
Proviso Township completes its partnership this year with Loyola University’s Departments of Chemistry and Physics and the University of Illinois-Chicago Departments of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science and Texas Instruments.
St. Clair and the Monroe-Randolph Regional Offices of Education have planned a partnership with Camp Wartburg, Lindenwood University and 60 teachers from 18 districts.
The Madison County Regional Office of Education and Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville completes its work with Collinsville teachers who are leaders in the pre-service student-student- master teacher program, creating a program for these leaders with partners from the Schools of Engineering and Education and Boeing Corporation.
The University of Chicago and Yerkes Observatory completes its work with the Will County Regional Office of Education and 24 of their teachers and a dozen other teachers from around the state in a 3-year international astronomy project.
Staff from the Regional Office of Education in Ullin concludes its partnership with the Regional Offices of Franklin/Williamson Counties and Jackson/Perry Counties to serve 35 teachers with experts from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.