Especially for Teachers
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In collaboration with the Lowell School Department, our professional development activities focus on enabling teachers to support GEAR UP students in ways that lead to improved student achievement. One example is the Lowell High School - UMass Lowell Vertical Initiative.
After identifying curriculum gaps in student learning from middle school to high school, the Vertical Team Initiative was formed to increase academic achievement for students transitioning into high school. Through support from GEAR UP Lowell and GEAR UP Massachusetts, vertical teaming has engaged teachers from middle schools and Lowell High School with Middlesex Community College and University of Massachusetts Lowell faculty to consider the path to assessment, advance placement, and performance in higher education. The instructors from the various levels work through a series of professional development workshops to acquire a better understanding of what is taught at each level and thereby align their teaching to increase the academic skills necessary for students to succeed.
These activities began in mathematics in 2003 and due to their visible success have now been replicated in the sciences and language arts. Due to their continued success, the math vertical team initiative plans to do the following:
- Produce a video tape of their work to share with other schools.
- Present the program at various conferences.
- Gather better data to measure success in student learning.
In addition, the Vertical Team initiative presented the program at the GEAR UP National Conference in July 2008 in Washington, D.C. and at an education conference at Merrimack College in April that consisted of all of the teams from Math, English and Chemistry. To know more about the presentation in Washington D.C., see the PowerPoint presentation below:
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