March 4, 2008

Grow Receives Grant to Conduct Teacher Institute

Janice Grow-Maienza, professor of education, has been awarded a $176,000 Improving Teacher Quality grant by the Missouri Department of Higher Education from federal “No Child Left Behind” funds.

Grow will conduct a Teacher Institute Aug. 4-15 to introduce 50 k-12 teachers to “gecKo mathematics,” adapted from the NSF-funded English translations of the 6th National Primary Mathematics Curriculum of Korea.

The Northeast Regional Professional Development Center (RPDC) is collaborating in this project, as is the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. Todd Hammond, professor of mathematics; Scott Alberts, associate professor of mathematicsl and Hyun-Joo Kim, associate professor of mathematics; will help facilitate the Institute and the assessment of teachers and their students in the academic year 2008-2009, as will staff from the RPDC. A fourth collaborator in the “gecKo mathematics” project is Sungard Higher Education whose staff is preparing “gecKo mathematics” for online Web access for all teachers, parents and students. Ryan Herriman, a senior linguistics major from Lee’s Summit, Mo.; Stephen Emlund, a senior art major from Fredericktown, Mo.; and Garry Polley, a sophomore mathematics major from Imperial, Mo.; have designed and prepared adaptations for the Web site.

Grow attributes her success in writing a winning proposal to Judy Lundberg, director of grants and sponsored programs, and the assistance she received from the Grants and Foundation Relations office at Truman and the support of Sam Minner, dean of the school of health sciences and education, and Darl Davis, director of the regional professional development center.