GBMP: PHASE 2 Funded

In mid-August 2009, GBMP leadership was advised that the National Science Foundation had awarded the project $2.1 million for "GBMP: Phase 2".  Phase 2, which runs from Sept. 2009 - Aug 2012, is an outgrowth of GBMP's initial work but of a smaller and more intense focus. It will involve only 13 middle schools from 7 partner districts: Jefferson County, Shelby County, Fairfield City, Hoover City, Homewood City, Trussville City, and our newest partner, Tarrant City Schools.  News of the award was also reported in this story from the UAB website.

A central component of GBMP's work to date has been providing teachers a series of intensive 9-day mathematics courses to deepen the teachers' content knowledge and to model inquiry-based instruction.  Multiple measures have shown that the courses have had a positive impact on teacher content knowledge and mathematical disposition.  Further, we found that teachers felt empowered as both learners and teachers of mathematics and believers in the power of providing a challenging inquiry- based environment for their students. And in those middle school classrooms in which the implementation level of inquiry-based instruction was high, students showed significantly more growth in test scores than the students in moderate or low implementing settings. In Phase II, we propose to show that the gains in student achievement previously seen in high implementing grade levels can be brought to scale in participating schools at all targeted grade levels with modified and intensified school (teacher and administrator) participation requirements including each faculty's active and broad participation in a school-based professional learning community focused on learning to implement inquiry-based pedagogy and aligned assessment.