The Professional Learning Community Model for Alternative Pathways in Teaching Science and Mathematics (PLC-MAP)

Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, College Station TX

Investigators

Abstract

"The Professional Learning Community Model for Alternative Pathways in Teaching Science and Mathematics (PLC-MAP)" is a partnership of the North Harris Montgomery Community College District (NHMCCD), Texas A&M University (TAMU), and ten public school districts in the Greater Houston area representing urban, suburban and rural areas. The goals of the five-year project are to 1) develop a Professional Learning Community (PLC) model for engaging science and education researchers from a university with science and mathematics faculty at community colleges to increase the number, quality and diversity of middle school and high school mathematics and science teachers; 2) apply design-based research to assess the effectiveness and replicability of the PLC model; and 3) disseminate replicable project and research findings. This project is building on the successful NSF-funded Information Technology in Science Center for Teaching and Learning (ITS Center) to create a Professional Learning Community model for engaging university science researchers and ITS Science Education Specialists with community college faculty in preparing well-qualified teachers through a community college-based alternative certification program. The research focus is to determine the impact of the PLC model on teacher quality and quantity using a designed-based research model in which development of the model and research on the effectiveness of that model take place through continuous cycles of design, enactment, analysis and redesign. Research activities are designed to determine to what extent participants in the PLC model increase the use of effective information technologies, authentic inquiry experiences and authentic assessment to teach science and/or mathematics. They are also determining the extent to which participation in the PLC model results in reduced teacher attrition during the internship and the induction years, whether there is a difference based on ethnicity/race and the extent to which participation results in reduced mentor teacher and NHMCCD attrition.