FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: June 19, 2007
Contact: Melissa Milios, Public Affairs Director, 713-658-1881
Ten teams of Houston-area educators will spend the next two years studying and documenting how their professional learning communities are impacting student achievement, an effort made possible through $100,000 in grants recently awarded by Houston A+ Challenge.
Critical Friends Group as Research Team (CART) Grants support educators as they meet in groups to examine student work, discuss the latest research on effective instruction, and reflect on their own teaching strategies. Projects are carried out using the methods of action research, which is aimed at improving student achievement by changing individual teachers' classroom practice.
The following Critical Friends Group coaches and teams have been awarded $10,000 each in Houston A+ Challenge CART Grants to support their work through 2009:
Chong-Hao Fu and his team from KIPP Sharpstown College Prep will attempt to develop a school-wide vision of student and teacher excellence that looks beyond simple quantitative data, and promotes a more comprehensive view of teaching and learning.
Michaelann Kelley and an interdisciplinary team from Eisenhower High School in Aldine ISD will focus on how changing the content and context of conversations among educators encourages collaboration and reflection -- and ultimately impacts student learning.
Matthew Martinez and a team from Houston ISD's Challenge Early College High School will work on coordinating teaching strategies and unit plans across the school, in order to improve students' preparation and apptitude for college work.
Debra McIntyre and her team from the Small Learning Community and PACE Programs in Humble ISD will explore how a highly personalized educational experience reconnects at-risk students to their studies.
Lauren Nguyen, a reading specialist in Houston ISD’s Curriculum Department, will lead a multi-school team of reading teachers in a study to determine the impact Master Reading Teachers are having on student test scores in reading, and to assess which mentoring schedule shows the greatest results.
Sonia Pacé and her team from Anderson Academy in Aldine ISD will research best practices for infusing the arts into the core curriculum, and explore ways to improve collaboration among teachers in order to put these practices into action at the school.
Mandi Painter and her team from Stovall Academy in Aldine ISD will document the impact of daily poetry readings on students' early development of fluency.
Dr. Angela López Pedrana, an assistant professor in the Department of Urban Education at the University of Houston-Downtown, will facilitate a group of faculty members from several local universities who are exploring how research is helping to document the impact of teacher knowledge on student achievement.
Carolyn Thibeaux, from Chavez High School in Houston ISD, is facilitating a team of educators from Alief, Aldine, and Houston ISDs who will explore how changes in administrative leadership affect the school culture, from the perspective of empowered school leaders.
Nichole Thompson from Houston Academy in Aldine ISD will be leading a collaborative group that includes educators from Bethune and Drew Academies to document how the STARS units of study have been adapted, their purpose and impact, and their lessons for the future.
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