ERIC Number: EJ783821
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005
Pages: 6
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0273-446X
EISSN: N/A
Building Capacity for Continuous Improvement of Math and Science Education in Rural Schools
Blanton, Roy E.; Harmon, Hobart L.
Rural Educator, v26 n2 p6-11 Win 2005
Schools in 47 high-poverty school districts located mostly along the Atlantic Coast of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia may have a head start on new requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, thanks to a $6 million grant from the National Science Foundation. Begun in April 2000, the five-year Coastal Rural Systemic Initiative (CRSI) is striving to stimulate sustainable systemic improvements in science and mathematics education in school districts with a long history of low student expectations, persistent poverty, low teacher pay, and high administrator turnover. The CRSI capacity-building model is designed to address issues in rural school districts that traditionally limit the capacity for creating sustainable improvements in math and science programs. A critical action step is that each school district must sign a cooperative agreement to establish Continuous Improvement Teams (CITs) at the district and school levels. These CITs represent a fundamental system capacity-building change in how decisions are made at the school and district levels--a change that is also fundamental to creating lasting improvements in math and science education programs. (Contains 2 figures.)
Descriptors: Rural Schools, Poverty, Federal Legislation, Disadvantaged Youth, School Districts, Educational Change, Science Education, Disadvantaged Schools, Grants, Sustainable Development, Educational Improvement, Science Instruction, Mathematics Instruction, Low Achievement, Teacher Salaries, Labor Turnover, Principals, Work Environment, Teamwork, Cooperative Planning, Participative Decision Making, Educational Administration, Instructional Leadership, Data Collection, Needs Assessment, Intervention
National Rural Education Association. Rural Educator, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 Maryland Parkway Box 453002, Las Vegas, NV 89154-3002. Tel: 702-895-3478; Fax: 702-895-3492; e-mail: ruraleducator@ccmail.nevada.edu; Web site: http://www.unlv.edu/journals/ruraleducator/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: North Carolina; South Carolina; Virginia
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: No Child Left Behind Act 2001
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A