Louisiana Board of Regents

During the summer of 2011 Dr. Keri Turner of Nicholls State University commenced a LaSIP teachers English/Language Arts and adolescent literacy professional development project for 40 LaFourche Parish teachers. Participants were grouped in “learning communities” and learned about use of research-based strategies appropriate to the intended goal, collaboration, and data-driven determination of the impact of student learning. Participants received direct instruction in content reading and writing knowledge needed to successfully implement literacy strategies in the Louisiana Comprehensive Curriculum and the upcoming national Common Core, which will implemented fully in Louisiana in 2014.

Dr. Paul Mooney of LSU-Baton Rouge, in partnership with the West Baton Rouge Parish School Board and LSU’s Special Education Programs, commenced a LaSIP literacy professional development (PD) program during the summer 2011. The project is designed to improve 5th-6th grade students’ reading achievement through teacher professional development and ongoing support of effective reading practices that target student vocabulary and comprehension development in content courses. Participants include 35 middle school natural and social sciences teachers, middle school special educators, and school-based reading interventionists.

During the 2009-10 Academic Year LaSIP funded 18 separate professional development projects (PD) at institutes across Louisiana that provided intense professional development sessions for 611 teachers, 14 school administrators at 328 individual schools. An estimated 37,733 elementary, middle and high school age students of participant-teachers were indirectly affected. A total of 73 faculty and staff from Louisiana Tech University, Louisiana State University, Southern University-baton Rouge, Nicholls State University, University of Louisiana-Monroe, Southeastern Louisiana University, University of Louisiana Lafayette, Northwestern State University, and McNeese State University provided the PD for teachers of mathematics, science, and ELA/literacy.

On September 12, 2011 LA GEAR UP school teachers, administrators and students participated in the annual LA GEAR UP conference. This year’s conference, which is a required feature of the federal grant, was held in Baton Rouge at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Parents who came to the conference with their children attended the breakfast session on Tuesday, September 15, and met LA GEAR UP staff for a brief welcome before the nuts and bolts of the conference began. Some of the topics of breakout sessions/presentations were “Rigorous Curricula through Quality Core,” “How Children Learn,” and “Home-based Best Practices for Student Learning.” The conference concluded with contract discussions and an Exemplary School Awards ceremony on September 14.

Nicholls State, in collaboration with L. E. Fletcher Technical Community College, headed up a LaSIP mathematics project during the 2008-09 academic year entitled “Guiding Algebraic Thinking and Exploration (Project Gate)”. The project provided 27 months of professional development for 45 pre-algebra and algebra teachers from grades 7-12 that included 40 six-hour days of workshops.

In 2008-09 LSU-Alexandria successfully secured a LaSIP award entitled “Project TERM (Teachers Experiencing Reform Mathematics)”. The project lasted 27 months and targeted 40 teachers from grades 4-8 from 17 schools in two parishes. The project focused on Algebra, Patterns & Functions, and Number & Number Relations.

During the 2008-09 academic year Dr. James Madden of LSU-Baton Rouge headed up a LaSIP project entitled “LSU Master’s of Natural Sciences Supporting EBR Secondary Math/Science Coaching Model”. The aim of the project was to transform the teaching of secondary mathematics and science in the East Baton Rouge School System through an LSU Masters program in support of the parish’s Instructional Coaching Model.

ULL’s 2008-09 LaSIP project entitled “Improving PACS (Pedagogical Assessment and Content Skills) of Middle Grades” provided 168 contact hours of professional development for 33 teachers of grades 5-7 employed with the Lafayette Parish School System. Headed up by Dr. Peter Sheppard, the chief content areas addressed were Number Relations and Algebra. The project utilized RAP (Research & Associated Practice) Sessions, in which addressed real problems teachers may encounter through current and classic research- and reform-based practices.

UNO’s Dr. Yvelyne Germain-McCarthy headed up a 2008-09 LaSIP project entitled “Meaningful Mathematics through Modeling”. The project worked with 45 participants in teams from grades 4-8 drawn from targeted underperforming schools. The UNO team delivered standards-based and best-practice informed professional development by making use of the Annenberg/CPB Learning Math course components for Numbers and Number Relations, as well as Algebra.

Over the course of several LaSIP projects Dr. DesLey Plaisance of Nicholls State University has worked with approximately 300 teachers from 10 parishes ranging in grade levels from Pre-K to 12. She has worked as lead instructor, site coordinator, and project director on projects based at Nicholls as well as Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge. In addition to increasing teachers’ pedagogical and content knowledge, she has been able to utilize the professional development experiences in conducting mathematics content classes for pre-service teachers.