This is a 40-month leadership teacher enhancement project which targets teachers from rural public and private schools near Fort Wayne, Indiana. Two teachers (one K-3, one 4-6) from each of 35 schools will receive three years of training in content and methodology, and in strategies for leadership and inservicing. Their respective principals will participate in planning science inservices, and the PI will provide support through 2 site visits/teacher/year and an 800 hotline, as well as through program workshops. At the end of three academic years, 595 teachers will have been involved in substantive inservicing supported by administration and principals, and by the PI. Urban teachers from Fort Wayne, who have just completed a similar project, will serve as mentors to the rural teachers. The 70 leader teachers will be involved in a three year program that includes summer workshops as well as monthly academic year inservices. Urban teachers from Fort Wayne schools who participated in the P.I.'s previous grant project, will share their experiences with the participants of this project, establising partnership relationships between these urban and rural school teachers. The leader teachers and their principals will plan inservice programs for teachers in their respective schools (595 teachers), and will be supported directly by the PI and project staff. The project design plans for extensive direct involvement on the part of the P.I. and project staff, maximizing the project's potential for significant positive impact on science education in the targeted schools. This project is appropriate for the Teacher Enhancement Program because it contains both a strong enhancement program and a carefully planned and well-supported leadership component that is designed to reach all of the classroom teachers in the schools of the leader teachers. Cost sharing is approximately 66% of the amount requested from NSF.
