Math-Science Partnership Grant Program: Project ARRMS
Project ARRMS (Achieving Rigor and Relevance in Math and Science) is an action-research project designed to measure the impact of targeted professional development for educators on student proficiency in math and science. At the project’s core is the idea that when teachers increase rigor and connections to real-world situations in their lessons, students will learn faster and retain their knowledge longer, making gains in math and science achievement.
Project ARRMS brings together a dynamic partnership of local colleges, school districts, and community agencies. The partnership provides a unique professional development framework for secondary math and science teachers, helping them deepen their content knowledge, improve the rigor and relevance of their lessons, share best practices across district boundaries, and network with local and regional leaders in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields.
Project ARRMS is a 3-year project funded by the federal Mathematics and Science Partnerships Program and overseen by the PA Department of Education.
Project Activities
Summer: 80-hour Content-Deepening Institutes
Each summer, secondary math and science teachers gather with their peers from across the region to engage in 80 hours of content-deepening professional development, hosted and facilitated by faculty from local colleges. Over an intensive two-week period, teachers explore content through the lenses of STEM careers, and cross-disciplinary and “real world” connections, and stretch their professional knowledge while collaborating across district lines. In 2010, the Math Institute focused on Probability and Statistics, and the Science Institute focused on Ecology and Environmental Science. In 2011, the Math Institute focused on Algebra, and the Science Institute focused on Biology and Earth Science.
School Year: Push-in Instructional Coaching
During the subsequent school year, each participating teacher is paired with a personal instructional coach, who acts as a supportive colleague and confidential advisor as the teacher works to introduce new Institute-enhanced knowledge and real-world connections into his or her own classrooms. Coaches meet one-on-one with their teachers during prep periods or after school to help teachers with individual teaching concerns. Throughout the year, the IU 13 hosts evening large-group networking sessions where teachers can reconnect with their peers from the Summer Institutes, and share ideas and resources.
IU 13 will begin recruiting teacher participants for the third year of Project ARRMS, 2012-13, in February 2012.
Project Partners
View a full list.
Summer 2011 - Institute Highlights
View highlights of the Summer 2011 Institute.
Project ARRMS Newsletters
For more information, please call 717-606-1666 or email projectarrms@iu13.org.
For more details and updates on Project ARRMS, including a downloadable media kit, please visit the Project ARRMS Wikispaces site.
For more information on the Federal Mathematics and Science Partnerships (MSP) Program, please visit the US Department of Education MSP site.