Monroe Park Campus College of Humanities March 29, 2017 and Sciences Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics Dear District Administrators, Grace E. Harris Hall 1015 Floyd Avenue I am happy to announce the beginning of our project The Virginia Mathematics Box 842014 Specialist Initiative: An Online Program to Prepare K‐8 Mathematics Teacher Leaders P.O. Richmond, Virginia 23284-2014 for High‐Needs School Districts. Contingent upon final approval by the National 804-828-1301 Science Foundation, this project is scheduled to be funded in May 2017. This Fax: 804-828-8785 TDD:1-800-828-1120 program will increase mathematics teacher leadership capacity in school districts www.math.vcu.edu across Virginia. I look forward to working with all of you on this project. The grant covers tuition, fees, and books for twenty teachers to complete the mathematics specialist preparation program outlined in the attached document. All course work will be offered in an online format. Upon satisfactory completion, participants will receive a Masters in Interdisciplinary Studies, Mathematics and Science Leadership track, from VCU as well as Virginia’s K‐8 mathematics specialist add‐on endorsement to their teaching license. In addition, these twenty teachers will receive a $10,000 salary supplement each year for 3 years (Fall 2019 – Spring 2022). Funding is based on the following conditions for teachers and school districts. Conditions for teachers: Teacher recipients must (1) complete the entire MIS degree program, (2) maintain fulltime employment in their nominating school district for five years (Fall 2017 – Spring 2022), (3) take on mathematics teacher leadership responsibilities during the 3 years of the teacher leadership service commitment (Fall 2019 – Spring 2022) and (4) participate in the online monthly meetings of the Mathematics Teacher Leader Mentoring program for 2 years (Fall 2019 – Spring 2021). Conditions for school districts: School districts must (1) use rigorous standards to select participants for the preparation program including mathematics content knowledge, academic merit, and professional achievements (see the conditions for admission to the VCU Graduate School in the attached document); (2) provide the information needed throughout the project including district and teacher demographic information as well as annual certification of employment and up‐to‐date contact information for participants from our the district; (3) employ grant recipients as mathematics teachers for at least 5 years (Fall 2017 – Spring 2022) with mathematics teacher leadership as part of their regular duties (Fall 2019 – Spring 2022); and (4) not reduce the base salary of grant recipients prepared through this program and receiving the salary supplement (Fall 2019‐Spring 2022). Mathematics leadership can take many forms. Ideally, participants who complete this program will serve as mathematics specialists in your school district. If you are unable to guarantee that kind of position in your district, you still must have these individuals assume leadership responsibilities in years 3 – 5 of the project. We will need to document the types of responsibilities these individuals assume. Types of mathematics teacher leadership responsibilities include but are not limited to participating in mathematics curriculum
development, assisting with the planning and implementation of mathematics professional development experiences, and mentoring mathematics teachers. If these conditions are not met, the funds received from the grant will revert to a loan for the participating teacher with strict pay back conditions. The attached document contains information about the program as well as a pre‐screening application to collect information on the teachers you would like to nominate for participation. The pre‐screening application contains information that we would like to know as we select the best candidates for the program. There may be additional information that you would like to collect as well. Please feel free to collect any information you need that will help you put forth the best candidates for the program. As a condition of funding we must offer the first class this summer and teachers must complete the preparation program in 2 years. The timeline for the admission process is at the bottom of page 1 of the attached document and the planned course schedule is provided on page 2. We must adhere to the timeline in order to complete the grant project on time and meet NSF’s requirements for funding. We have set an April 25 deadline for teachers to submit the pre‐screening applications to you. If you would like to make the deadline earlier than April 25, please do so. By May 1 we must receive the pre‐screening applications for all candidates as well as a ranked list of your district nominees. This is a firm deadline so that we can enroll teachers in the graduate program before classes begin in July. We have twenty participating school districts and grant funding for twenty participants. So the plan is to accept one teacher from each participating school district. However, we may decline to accept a nominee if he/she does not meet the criteria for admission to the VCU Graduate School or if there are concerns about the nominee’s ability to meet all of the conditions for funding. If there are no eligible teachers in particular school districts, the slots allocated to those districts will be made available to other participating districts. Teachers who receive grant funding must complete the entire program. We are offering 11 courses (see page 2 of the attached document). In addition, participants will need to complete two 3‐credit graduate electives on their own or transfer graduate level courses that they have completed as professional development from other institutions. All electives must be approved by the Mathematics Outreach office and transfer courses must have been taken after 2012. If you have additional teachers who would like to complete the program, we have slots available for non‐ grant funded participants. They must also be nominated by you and must submit the same pre‐screening application. Districts may pay for teachers to complete the courses or teachers may pay for the courses on their own. Courses with a MATH prefix (see the Course Schedule in the attached document) will cost a flat rate of $715 per course. Courses with a TEDU prefix will cost approximately $1,364 per course and are subject to small regular yearly tuition increases. Based on a tuition agreement through the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences, this is the most inexpensive Mathematics Specialist Preparation program in the state and perhaps in the country. Good examples of candidates for additional non‐grant funded slots are teachers who already have a Masters degree and would like to take only the courses needed for the Mathematics Specialist add‐on endorsement. Mark May 1 on your calendar as the date to submit pre‐screening applications from all of your district candidates. Also on that date send me a ranked list of your district’s candidates as a way to let us know who you would prefer to receive grant funded positions. Also list which teachers are interested in completing the program without grant funding.
I will be setting up phone conversations with all participating school districts in the coming days to address any questions you may have. Please include any district administrators in the conversation that you believe should be “in the loop” as we start this project. We are excited to get started! Thank you for partnering with VCU in this important endeavor. Sincerely, Aimee J. Ellington Director of Mathematics Outreach Associate Professor (804) 828‐5521
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