In addition to ongoing conferences, institutes and programs, the Office of K-12 Outreach serves a grant project management role and as a pivotal partner in connecting grant-funding organizations, MSU faculty and members of the K-12 community seeking funds for program development and implementation.  Barbara Markle and her staff serve in various roles in implementing the following grant projects.

Michigan Principals Fellowship and Coaches Institute

The Michigan Principals Fellowship and Coaches Institute, funded by the U.S Department of Education Title 1 funds, is a collaborative effort by the Michigan Department of Education, the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators and Michigan State University to provide support to Michigan schools not making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).

The Michigan Principals Fellowship supports principals in schools that have not met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals.  It is designed to support principals as they develop the skills necessary to systematically improve the quality of instruction in their buildings by exercising visionary, instructional and operational/systems leadership, and cross-cutting leadership skills related to data collection and analysis, communication and managing change. 

In order to build the capacity of principals to lead systematic instructional improvements in high priority schools, the Coaches Institute is preparing a cadre of educators highly skilled in facilitating professional learning that leads to demonstrable results in student achievement.  Coaches are the key mechanism for providing on-site support to principals. The purpose of the Coaches Institute and Fellowship is to create a highly interactive and coherent learning experience for participants that will, over time, increase their capacity to lead adult learning in the service of systematic instructional improvement. 

The Michigan Principals Fellowship and Coaches Institute has provided significant training over the past year, and is continuing throughout the 2007-08 school year and over the summer 2008.  To see what the trainings have provided, please go to http://www.aypsupport.org, where you will find the conference materials posted with access to those materials with copyright permission.

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National Education Association Grant: Keys to Excellence in Your Schools (KEYS)

The College of Education through the Office of K-12 Outreach is working in collaboration with the National Education Association and the Michigan Education Association to design, pilot and implement a KEYS “Priority Schools” Initiative. Partners in this work include a team made up of MSU faculty, school based educators and representatives from the Michigan Education Association and the National Education Association.

The work has focused on priority schools in Michigan that are willing to engage in deep reform efforts in a comprehensive, collaborative coaching environment. K-12 Outreach designed a professional development curriculum to prepare coaches in Michigan to work with priority schools toward change and improvement at the school and classroom levels. In collaboration with the National Education Association (NEA) K-12 Outreach provide extended training to coaching candidates in NEA’s Midwest region.

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Collaborations with College of Education Initiatives

The Office of K-12 Outreach actively works to forge collaborations with the College of Education and other academic units on projects and programs.  Current efforts include:

Sun Wah Foundation Grant: US-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence

The mission of the US-China Center is to develop and disseminate effective models of education that integrate the strengths of Eastern and Western educational practices through scientific research of excellent schools and educational programs in China and the United States through modern technologies.

Working with the U.S.-China Center, K-12 Outreach organizes conferences on Internationalizing Michigan Education. 

Confucius Institute

The Institute was established in partnership with China’s national Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language and the China Central Radio and Television University. The mission of the partnership and Institute is to promote Chinese language and culture education in Michigan and beyond through innovative uses of technology. The Confucius Institute is offering a comprehensive suite of programs and services to achieve this mission.

Visit the US-China Center at http://ott.educ.msu.edu/excellence/web.

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PROM/SE – Promoting Rigorous Outcomes in Math and Science Education

PROM/SE is a long-term mathematics and science education reform partnership funded by the National Science Foundation.  Sixty-four school districts In Michigan and Ohio joined with Michigan State University to improve mathematics and science achievement for all students.  It is a comprehensive research and development effort to improve mathematics and science teaching and learning in grades K-16.  K-12 Outreach Director Barbara Markle serves on the PROM/SE Executive Management Council and as Director of External Relations.

PROM/SE is a data-driven project that affords teachers unprecedented access to information about their students, instructional programs, instructional materials and state standards. The information is used to enable teachers to identify specific challenges in their schools and districts and determine reasons for and design solutions to these challenges.

PROM/SE is using careful analysis of student assessment data, curricular materials and state standards to target reform efforts more effectively and to develop powerful new professional development opportunities. The project links the Michigan and Ohio partners with some of the country’s top mathematicians, scientists and educational researchers at Michigan State University.

Visit the PROM/SE website at http://www.promise.msu.edu.

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