The Center for Learning and Teaching in the West (CLT-West) is a consortium of five universities -- Montana State University, Portland State University, the University of Montana, Colorado State University, and the University of Northern Colorado -- formed to meet the needs of underrepresented students who have traditionally not benefited from SMET educational reform. It includes partnerships with Ft. Belknap College in Montana, other community and tribal colleges, Portland Public Schools, and sixty-eight rural and reservation schools in Montana and Colorado. The project's goals are to increase the number of qualified mathematics and science teachers; provide professional development and support to math and science teachers in low-income and high minority schools in the West's inner city and rural schools; investigate how technology can improve graduate education programs; and prepare leaders in science and mathematics education.
The project addresses CLT program goals in a variety of ways. It builds an infrastructure that is likely to be institutionalized in these states and supports new approaches to reaching a broader community. CLT-West establishes "Fellows", a multi-disciplinary group of pre-doctoral and post-doctoral students, and "Faculty Fellows" to conduct research, team teach new courses, work with colleagues on the reform of upper division science and mathematics courses for preservice teachers and/or provide professional development to schools and districts involved with the Center. The Center will educate 75 pre-doctoral and post-doctoral students. In addition, the professional development plan will impact 520 math and science teachers with programs consistent with the Center's goals yet catered to the local needs. Those teachers come from schools that serve just under 40,000 students, who are predominantly from underrepresented groups in SMET.
The extensive collaborative effort across departments, campuses and states is a model for sharing expertise, curricula and reform methods, and the utilization of technology to maximize learning. CLT-West's work with targeted populations and districts should produce a national research base for connecting university and college faculties with the needs of underrepresented students in science and mathematics.
