Middle Grades

The New York Comprehensive Center (NYCC) is one of 16 regional comprehensive centers that are federally funded to implement the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). In doing so, NYCC engages the New York State Education Department in using research-based findings and rigorous evidence. The Center provides technical assistance services to meet the Department’s priority needs and further the key initiatives of the US Department of Education. Additionally, the NYCC works with the State on emerging needs based on new statutes and policy mandates.

The New England Comprehensive Center (NECC) is one of 16 regional comprehensive centers that are federally funded to implement the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The NECC engages state education leaders in using research and best practice to meet the goals of NCLB. Our purpose is to design and deliver technical assistance services that meet education leaders’ priority needs, further the key initiatives of the U.S. Department of Education, and have the greatest potential for building states’ capacities to help districts and schools improve.

CSE, the University of Michigan, and the Center for Applied Special Technology is applying the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) so that science curricula can be customized to serve a wide range of student learning needs.

The Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program is designed to increase opportunities for students and teachers to learn about and use information technologies within the contexts of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The program supports both youth-based projects with strong emphases on career and educational paths, and comprehensive projects for students and teachers.

This project works with the Prevention Center of Palm Beach County, Florida—and other regions of the United States—to develop, implement, and evaluate a program to prevent violence and enhance school safety for all 36,000 middle school children in the county. EDC trains community police officers to deliver the curriculum, Aggressors, Victims, and Bystanders, and prepares them to become mentors and co-innovators in the program.

The Boston Science Partnership is a five-year NSF-funded Math and Science Partnership project designed to improve science teaching and learning in Boston’s middle schools and high schools, to enhance university-level teaching by STEM faculty, and to ensure the university partners’ continued support for and faculty involvement in science education. The Partnership involves the Boston Public Schools, the University of Massachusetts/Boston, and Northeastern University as the principal partners. Harvard Medical School and the College Board participate as supporting partners.

This project provides logistical and substantive support to the IMD, TPC, and DR-K12 grantees funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Working collaboratively with the principal investigators and NSF program officers over a five-year period, EDC has coordinated four of five annual Principal Investigators conferences and is establishing a knowledge-transfer network that includes developing print and Web-based resources to ensure ongoing, high-quality dialogue and sharing among grantees.

CSE is directing the external formative and summative evaluation activities for Harvard University’s Learning to RECAST Students’ Causal Assumptions in Science Through Interactive Multimedia Professional Development Tools project. This five-year project develops tools that enable teachers to assist their students in learning the nature of causality underlying scientific concepts. CSE’s role is to monitor the project’s progress on materials and technology development as well as to determine the impact of the tools on teacher practice.

EDC continues to expand its Teenage Health Teaching Modules (THTM), a comprehensive school health curriculum for grades 6 through 12 used in all 50 states and several countries. EDC is updating scientific content and making the modules responsive to the ethnic and cultural diversity of today’s classrooms. New materials include Getting Active and Eating Well and Voices Against Violence. THTM has been identified as a “promising” model program by the U.S. Department of Education.

dot-EDU was an information and communication technology (ICT) intervention mechanism for USAID Missions seeking to improve education systems in their respective countries. dot-EDU sought to assist developing countries in strengthening learning systems that improve quality, expand access, and enhance equity through carefully planned applications of digital and broadcast technologies. The dot-EDU mission had two foci. First, dot-EDU provided training and technical assistance to support USAID Missions in developing and implementing technology-assisted applications.