The University of Puerto Rico (Rio Piedras campus and Mayaguez campus) in collaboration with Puerto Rico's Department of Education (PRDE) provides 45 K-12 Fellows as professional development resources for K-12 science and mathematics teachers in a constructivist and interdisciplinary approach to key concepts in alignment with national standards. This project is aligned with Puerto Rico's statewide systemic initiative. This project recruits, trains, and engages K-12 Fellows as professional development resources in the promotion of conceptual understanding of content knowledge for science and mathematics teachers in Puerto Rico. The K-12 Fellows serve in several capacities: 1) as professional development resources in the scaling-up effort of the PRSSI reform-Phase II, as part of the team of university faculty and lead teachers reaching 400 additional schools (25% of the Island's 1,538 schools in the public system) to be inducted into the standards-based reform during 2000-2002; 2) as follow-up to teachers from among the 200 PR-SSI schools that initiated the whole school based strategy during Phase II in 1998, which are currently completing the professional development program and require assistance in the effective implementation of the standards based curriculum; 3) as support to cooperating and mentor teachers in the preparation of future and novice teachers participating in the Puerto Rico Collaborative for Excellence in Teacher Preparation (PR-CETP) who are carrying out their practicum and induction experience in PR-SSI schools; 4) as co-teachers with K-12 teachers and serving as role models of future scientists, mathematicians and engineers for K-12 students. The K-12 Fellows are prepared for this activity by means of a year-long program consisting of: (1) four-day retreat (summer), (2) two workshops during the year, (3) monthly meetings and (4) Field Experiences. Performance assessment parallels the SSI and CETP programs that are in place. The main purpose of the research-based evaluation is to translate data from multiple sources into meaningful information that is used to drive the systemic reform in Puerto Rico.
