NSF   SW Regional Conference 2001
  Conference Overview Work Alike Groups Strands Presentations Conference_wrap up

Strengthening the Quality of Mathematics and Science Learning for All: Measuring What Matters brought together recipients of the National Science Foundation’s systemic initiative awards in the southwestern region.

Sponsored by the NSF and the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL), the conference structure and topics were designed by representatives from ten of the southwestern initiatives plus staff from three of SEDL's programs: the Eisenhower Southwest Consortium for the Improvement of Math and Science Teaching (SCIMAST), the Regional Educational Laboratory, and the SouthCentral Regional Technology in Education Consortium. Click here to view/download planning teams Synthesis Report and the conference agenda.

Goals of the conference were to:

  • Identify and explore attributes of quality teaching and learning that result in significant high performance for all students.

  • Share tools and processes to measure the attributes of quality teaching/learning and to identify attributes that don’t have measures.

  • Develop a school, district, or regional plan for using appropriate research tools to define and measure the teaching and learning of PK-16 mathematics and science.

These goals were met through a conference structure that included three strands focusing on Systemic Alignment, Professional Learning Communities, and Tracking Student Performance. Each project brought a team that included up to six team members who represented the following functions:

  • Project director,

  • Project data collector who is usually an evaluator or researcher,

  • Higher education partner;

  • Instructional implementer,

  • Instructional leader, who could be a teacher, principal, curriculum specialist or superintendent, and

  • Policymaker.

Project team members split up so that only two team members participated in a strand. Two scheduled team meetings provided time for team members to share and discuss what they learned in strand sessions.

Sponsored by

NSF Logo

The NSF Southwest Regional Conference was funded by the National Science Foundation.

The conference was planned and hosted by staff from three Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) projects:

SCIMAST Logo Southwest Consortium for The Improvement of Mathematics and Science Teaching
SC-RTEC Logo SouthCentral Regional Technology in Education Consortim (SC-RTEC)
SEDL Logo Regional Educational Laboratory
Photo of Workalike Group for Project Direcors

Roni Rentfro, planning committee member & project director, Brownsville USP

“I hope I’m not overstepping my bounds in speaking for the conference planning committee. . . .I have to say from my perspective, you all did an incredible job of taking all of that discussion that took place in that day and a half of planning and turned it into a reality that we feel very confident about.”

 
Photo of Professional Learning Community Strand

Professional Learning Community Strand
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