9454790 Laffey The Missouri Supporting Teachers (MOST) project is a nine-month grant to a consortium of statewide stakeholders to plan a program of educational reform and technological innovation. The consortium holds a commitment to an integrated teacher support system and network infrastructure designed around the needs of teachers implementing an integrated math and science curriculum through problem-based learning and computational science techniques. The MOST project will support the needed systemic change by planning the implementation of: (1) a network infrastructure which creates a community of educators and leverages knowledge and experience across the community, (2) an electronic teacher support system designed around the practices and challenges of teaching and learning, and (3) a consortium of change agents with a cohesive vision and a common set of tools for supporting teacher professionalization and school restructuring. The planning grant will support four main activities. The first is to extend and articulate a powerful model of problem-based learning and computational science being developed in the Lee's Summit School District, as well as to learn from other projects which are exploring and advancing these key principles and methods. Second, preliminary designs for the electronic teacher support system and network infrastructure will be developed and prototyped, in order to specify the requirements for implementation and maintenance. Third, the consortium of stakeholders will be extended and elaborated, so that a pathway is drawn for including all major constituents. And fourth, the planning grant will enable the development and articulation of a strategic and tactical plan which can draw support for the long-term efforts. The restructuring of the teaching/learning process to achieve meaningful learning of math and science as exemplified by problem-based learning requires a radical reconceptualization of the way teachers are developed and supported. The MOST project is well situated to build and test a powerful and innovative model of teacher professionalization which is implemented in the field, supported by a community of practitioners, and enabled by a technology infrastructure. The MOST project leverages (1) Missouri's continuing commitment to building a network infrastructure for schools and the existing MOREnet services, (2) the exciting work and experience of teachers in Lee's Summit, (3) a base of research and development in electronic support systems, and (4) the commitment of key statewide stakeholders.
