Middle Grades

The PALMS project seeks to increase the number of Latino students who pursue education beyond high school. Through high-quality materials, such as Tools for Latino Family Outreach: Supporting Student Success in the Middle Grades and Beyond, the project equips school and community leaders to work effectively with Latino families and students. In September 2006, PALMS began working with Helen Tyson Middle School (Springdale, Arkansas) and Hommocks Middle School (Larchmont, NY) to document how leaders at these schools use the tools to develop replicable parental outreach models.

In collaboration with EDC’s Center for Learning and Leadership Communities, this project is producing a research-based professional development curriculum focused on geometric thinking in the middle grades. It is also creating a framework designed to help teachers better understand geometric thinking and how it develops in learners; a curriculum for professional development in geometry based on this framework; quantitative and qualitative studies of the curriculum’s impact; and research reports disseminating the results of this work.

This large-scale research and technical assistance project investigates the nature of elementary and middle school principals’ knowledge and beliefs about mathematics learning and teaching and the effect of these beliefs on the principals’ practice of classroom observation and teacher supervision.

This project provides two years of professional development and support to teams of middle and high school mathematics teachers in the Greater Boston area involved with the lesson study model of professional development. Our goals include enhancing knowledge of mathematics and pedagogy, introducing teachers to lesson study, building a community of teachers interested in lesson study, and learning how the Japanese lesson study model can be adapted to become a successful professional development model for U.S. secondary school mathematics teachers.

ATLAS Communities is now an independent organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Visit the ATLAS Communities Web site for current contact information.

ScienceQuest was a unique after-school program that supported community-based organizations who wanted to increase staff and organizational capacity; assisted youth (ages 10–14) in learning science, technology, and literacy; and increased the youths’ positive experiences with learning. Through training in I-Search methods and ongoing in-person and electronic support, coaches lead small groups in personally relevant explorations documented through youth-designed Web sites.

This project established a model program for developing and supporting middle-grades science mentor-teachers. The project team worked closely with a group of experienced science teachers to improve their skills, knowledge, and confidence so they can effectively support novice science teachers from 10 to 12 demographically diverse school districts. Based on this model, CSE is developing a Facilitator’s Guide and accompanying videotapes. The model has been adapted in Cleveland, Ohio, Orlando, Florida (through the University of Central Florida) and Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.

COPE is developing a series of 26 online professional development courses that are available through the PBS TeacherLine site. The courses are designed to help elementary, middle, and high school teachers deepen their own understanding of mathematics or reading/language arts, incorporate effective teaching and assessment methods, use technology in their classrooms, and address issues of equity.

Schools to Watch, which was based at EDC from 1997 to 2005, is now an independent organization. Visit the Schools to Watch Web site for current contact information.

The Park City Mathematics Institute (PCMI) of the Institute for Advanced Study, EDC, and the PROMYS for Teachers program of the Mathematics Department of Boston University are developing specialized mathematics curriculum materials for in-service teachers of mathematics. For the past 5 years PCMI has been the testing ground for a unique resource for teachers of mathematics: courses designed by EDC and PROMYS and delivered to the PCMI participants by specially trained secondary teacher-leaders.