Newman University receives grant to help area teachers

May 30, 2012|by John Boyd

Newman University has been awarded $100,000 grant from the Kansas State Department of Education. The university will use the Title IIB Mathematics/Science Partnership Grant to help teachers in the Wichita and Haysville school districts strenghten their teaching skills.

The grant is approved for one year, and if proven effective has the potential to be renewed for two additional years.

The money will be used to implement the Using Mathematical Practices to Understand Content (UMPUC) program, a partnership among the Newman University Department of Mathematics, the Newman University School of Education, USD 259 (Wichita), USD 261 (Haysville), and the Diocese of Wichita Catholic Schools.

Approximately 66,000 students will be served under the program, as mathematics and education faculty from Newman work with educators of grades 3-5 from Wichita and Haysville public schools, and grades 3-6 from the Wichita Diocese schools. The UMPUC program is designed to increase the teachers’ mathematical content knowledge and strengthen their instructional skills during the transition to Kansas Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (KS CCSSM).

Kansas is one of 45 states that have adopted Common Core State Standards for math and English. The initiative provides consistent standards across the 45 states and is designed to provide a clear understanding of what students are expected to learn at different grade levels.

The project will begin with a two-week summer institute focused on increasing teachers’ conceptual understanding of numbers, fractions, ratios and other topics related to the Standards for Mathematical Practice and the Standards for Mathematical Content for the upper elementary grades. Participating teachers in the summer institute, set for July 9 - 20, will receive a $1,000 stipend and three hours of graduate credit from Newman.

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