Rural science education programs get boost from grant

LINCOLN — Rural Nebraska teachers will learn how to improve their science courses thanks to an ongoing federal grant designed to improve teachers’ professional skills.

UNMC’s Rural Health Education Network (RHEN) has received $59,420 in 2007-2008 funding from the Federal Improving Teacher Quality Grant, which is administered on behalf of the state by the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education (CCPE). In all, six grants were awarded to public school districts and their postsecondary institution partners.

The goal of the Nebraska United for Rural Science Education (NURSE) project, which will be directed by RHEN Director Roxanna Jokela, is to improve science content and pedagogy of teachers in rural schools.

“The Rural Health Education Network is very thankful to the commission for approval of this project,” Jokela said. “This project will enable us to expand a successful rural science teachers project into additional areas of the state.

“We plan to utilize the expertise of the science teachers that have participated in a similar project over the past five years to serve as mentors for the new teachers. We truly feel a major link to our health care providers of tomorrow is the ability of our secondary school science teachers to know about the health professions and show the excitement of the sciences around us as our students prepare for their careers.”

“This project will enable us to expand a successful rural science teachers project into additional areas of the state. … We truly feel a major link to our health care providers of tomorrow is the ability of our secondary school science teachers to know about the health professions and show the excitement of the sciences around us as our students prepare for their careers.” Roxanna Jokela

In the NURSE project, teachers who have participated in previous UNMC workshops (from other funding sources) will partner with teachers from nine to 12 additional rural public and private schools. There will be two, four-day workshops, one in summer 2008 at Chadron State College and one in 2009 at UNMC. During the school year, teams will research a topic and present the information at the second workshop.

Improving Teacher Quality grants are project-based grants designed to help increase student achievement by providing educators with professional development activities to improve their teaching skills. The program provides funds to partnerships established between Nebraska’s postsecondary institutions and high-need, low-income local education agencies (LEAs). The partners use the funds for specific projects pertaining to core academic subjects. In the NURSE project, the high-need LEAs include the Santee, Umonhon Nation and Wausa Public Schools.

“Because our teachers face a variety of educational challenges among their low-income areas across the state, the Improving Teacher Quality grants offer additional assistance for creative, innovative projects that might otherwise never be undertaken,” said Marshall Hill, executive director of the CCPE.

The grants, which also enable Spanish instructors to complete Spanish language endorsement classes, are funded under the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (Title IIA).