Innovative Mathematics Partnership For Rural Elementary Schools (IMPRES)
Project Period: May 1, 2015 – September 30, 2018 (Cohorts 1-3)
Target Audience: Mathematics Teachers in Grades K-5 in Brunswick and Sussex School Divisions
Funding Source: Mathematics and Science Partnership (MSP) Grant (From VDOE)
Funding Amount: $134,502 each year/cohort
The Innovative Mathematics Partnership for Rural Elementary Schools (IMPRES) is a collaborative partnership between Longwood University ITTIP, Virginia State University(VSU), Virginia Commonwealth University, and Brunswick and Sussex County school divisions. IMPRES is comprised of four main components:
1) One-week workshop during the summer focused-on mathematics content strand;
2) Intensive follow-up during the school year with math coaches at the school sites;
3) Online learning community across the schools for peer feedback and collaboration; and
4) One-day follow-up Saturday session in the spring.
In year one, twenty-five grades K-5 teachers met August 4-8, 2015 at VSU for content-driven mathematics professional development. It is anticipated that this project will be funded for three consecutive years and reach the majority of the partnering school divisions’ elementary mathematics teachers. Each year will focus on a different content strand of the Mathematics SOL. Year one will be Computation and Estimation, year two is Measurement and Geometry, and year three is Probability, Statistics, Patterns, Functions, & Algebra. Teachers will be supported in their divisions with classroom support from math coaches and math leadership teams at their schools. Year two funding has been confirmed and Cohort Two will meet at VSU from June 20 – 24, 2016.
In addition to the focus on teacher professional development, IMPRES also offered a 4-day professional development principal workshop that was open to all Region 8 elementary principals in Fall 2015/Spring 2016. The activities for the principal workshop helped principals do the following:
1) address the need for change;
2) think about what makes a good lesson in mathematics, and:;
3) further consider their role as an instructional leader and how to partner with their mathematics specialist or how to develop teacher leadership capacity if the school does not have a specialist.
Related Resources
Recruitment: 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18
Articles: ITTIP June 2015 Newsletter, ITTIP Summer 2015 , Newsletter, ITTIP October 2015 Newsletter, ITTIP March 2016 Newsletter, ITTIP April 2016 Newsletter, ITTIP May 2016 Newsletter, Cohort 2 Summer, ITTIP Summer 2016 Newsletter, ITTIP October 2016 Newsletter, ITTIP Winter 2016-2017 Newsletter, ITTIP April 2017 Newsletter, ITTIP May 2017 Newsletter, ITTIP Summer 2017 Newsletter, ITTIP Oct 2017 Newsletter, ITTIP Feb 2018 Newsletter, ITTIP 2018 May Newsletter, website article
