Lowell Higher Order Teaching
Project Description:
Project Abstract: List of Partners: The Higher Order Teaching (HOT) partnership builds upon and extends the the Lowell Public Schools Birth to Three Alignment grant. One of five pilot sites across the Commonwealth, the Lowell Alignment grant brings together a 15 member Leadership Alignment Team comprised of two, Level 3 & Level 4 public school principals, the Districts Early Childhood Department, and the Citys 7 center based programs, 5 family child care systems, and Head Start to build a common language around alignment, the common core, standards-based curriculum, and to set alignment goals and benchmarks. HOT addresses a widespread need throughout the City to aggressively address the notably low skills in mathematics that children entering and attending the public schools exhibit. Projects Principal Objectives: (1) Increase early educator's content knowledge in mathematics. (2) Increase use of Teaching Strategies Gold (TSG) to standardize child assessments and inform instruction across public and private early education settings. (3) Engage preschool to 2nd grade educators in alignment of mathematics curriculum to the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks in Mathematics (MCFM) and (TSG). (4) Increase educators understanding of learning trajectories and research based teaching strategies in mathematics. (5) Increase teacher competence in using child assessment data to design mathematical experiences and instruction. Major Activities: 1. Offer (TSG) training and coaching to three cohorts of 15-20 educators, one per project year. 2. Provide up to 45 hours of on-going professional development in mathematic instruction for Continued Education Units (CEU) to 15-25 educators, yearly. 3. Recruit 8-12 educators to participate in a targeted Work Group that aligns the Districts mathematics curriculum (PreK-2nd grade) with research based developmental learning trajectories, TSG, MCFM, and identifies strategies to improve instruction. 4. Support 5-8 (PreK-2nd grade) classrooms and community programs in using high quality interactions (as measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System) to build childrens mathematical understandings and skill development and follow-up coaching to promote these interactions. Local Evaluation: Pre-and post -assessments of teachers knowledge and practices and measures of students achievement in mathematics using TSG and other data sources.
Keyword(s):
Increase instruction in mathematics
Core Function(s):
Continuing Education/Community Training, Other Direct/Model Services
Area of Emphasis
Quality Assurance, Education & Early Intervention, Child Care-Related Activities
Target Audience:
Professionals and Para-Professionals
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Disadvantaged Circumstances, Limited English, Geographic Areas, Geographic Area - Other, Specific Groups, Other
Primary Target Audience Geographic Descriptor:
Single-County
COVID-19 Related Data:
N/A
