The Partnership is between Mountain Empire Community College (MECC), the University of Virginia College at Wise (UVA-Wise) and five contiguous rural Virginia school districts. Supporting partners are the Virginia Department of Education and Virginia's Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP). The latter is an initiative supported by grants from the US Department of Education to provide services to high poverty, middle and high schools. GEAR UP funds are also used to provide college scholarships for low income students. The project's preliminary vision centers on three long-term goals (i) to attract, prepare and support K-12 teachers of mathematics by providing high quality, research based, standards-based in-service professional development including the provision of leadership skills; (ii) to bridge the gap between K-12 and higher education mathematics courses; and (iii) to increase the number of students that complete more mathematics courses in high school. The Principle Investigator is from Mountain Empire Community College (MECC) and 78% of the students in the area attend a Virginia College. The Leadership Team led by the PI is comprised of representatives from UVA-Wise and key administrators (Supervisors, Superintendents and Directors of Curriculum and Instruction) from all five K-12 district partners. The project will collect and analyze a wide variety of data to thoroughly assess the professional development needs of teachers, students and their readiness to succeed in college level mathematics, and counselors, principals and Superintendents and their professional development needs, and parents, to gather information on their needs to better counsel their own children. Analysis of this data should lead to greater alignment of policies and practice, which will ultimately improve student achievement. Analysis of the data will also identify the needs that will be the focus of any intervention. Based upon this effort a plan for the program will be designed for a Targeted Partnership to achieve the three long-term goals. The project has the potential to add to the knowledge base on pre-service education from the aspect of the role that community colleges play in the preparation of teachers and in promoting a more successful transition for students from high school to higher education. The lessons learned could contribute to the knowledge base on the educational engagement and attainment of students with low aspirations.
