Lead Teachers Foster Institutional Changes in Their Schools and School Districts
Description
The Rice University Mathematics Leadership Institute (MLI) was an NSF-funded Math-Science Partnership created to provide a coherent sequence of summer and academic-year professional development for 80 lead teachers. Led by the Rice University School Mathematics Project (RUSMP), MLI united a variety of mathematics professionals from Rice University's departments of Computational and Applied Mathematics (CAAM), Mathematics (MATH), and Statistics (STAT), mathematics educators, high school faculty, administrators, and students from the Houston (HISD) and Aldine (AISD) Independent School Districts. The purpose of MLI was to meet the demand for mathematics instructional support and intellectual leadership by developing the expertise of high school teachers. MLI developed the mathematics content knowledge and instructional and leadership skills of 79 lead teachers which resulted in students' improved learning experiences and increased student success in mathematics. Lead mathematics teachers and administrators developed through MLI continue to foster institutional changes on their campuses and in their school districts. District administrators and former MLI lead teachers report MLI's impact continues to enrich their schools and districts through lead teachers' provision of model classrooms, introduction of innovative instructional strategies, encouragement of teachers to use new and effective instructional strategies, validation of teachers' work, and other activities to build rapport with and among mathematics teachers throughout the schools and districts.
