This three-year project, sponsored by Howard University, provides for an effective two-year in-service teacher training program followed by an evaluation and follow-up in the third year. The project will involve 60 middle school mathematics teachers in grades 7-8 in eleven middle schools in the D.C. public school system. Teachers will be selected from those schools where the students' standardized test performances fall below the grade level average of the Washington D.C. area. The project involves professional staffs from Howard University, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Alliance Computer Systems Corporation, the University of the District of Columbia, the D.C. Public School Systems and the Washington Urban League. The principal activities in this teacher program will include the following: hands-on training with materials evaluated and approved by the National Council of Teachers in Mathematics (NCTM), as well as materials from the Middle Grade Mathematics Project, the Lawrence Hall of Science and AAAS; intensive workshops in basic mathematics (algebra, geometry and statistics); simulation and graphics experience using supercomputers and sophisticated workstations; use of college student assistance during the academic school year in the teachers' classrooms; supervises teaching experience with experts in various fields of mathematics who will also be serving as collaborators; workshops with parents and administrators in the schools; provisions of day-care facilities for teachers with dependent children during the summer workshop; and extensive evaluation not only of the program but of student achievement. The NSF share of the cost of the project is $626,322 which is being matched by $336,000 from Howard University, the District of Columbia Public Schools and local business and industry. This is a match of about 54%.
