Exemplary Partnership with the
Texas Education Agency

Overview

For over 17 years, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) has invested in the Texas Regional Collaboratives for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching to develop, design, and implement research-based professional development programs for teachers across the state of Texas. Through an award-winning exemplary partnership with the Center for Science and Mathematics Education at The University of Texas at Austin, TEA has made it possible for over 15,000 teachers of science to receive sustained and high intensity TEKS-based professional development that has improved their content knowledge and skills, their performance in the classroom, and student achievement. Many of these science teachers have shared their experiences with thousands of teachers of science through mentoring, peer coaching, and technical assistance. In addition, during the two years of 2006 and 2007 over 8,500 teachers of mathematics have been served with training focused on improving the teaching and learning of mathematics at the K-12 levels for teachers representing all 20 regions of the state.

Using federal funding from the Eisenhower program and Teacher Quality previously, and from the Mathematics and Science Partnership (MSP) currently, the Texas Education Agency has built a unique model of a statewide network of P-16 partnerships that engage over 47 Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs), the 20 Education Service Centers, and numerous corporate and foundations partners. Through this statewide network, TEA has supported science and mathematics teachers and educators, as well as school administrators in their efforts to continuously improve the quantity and quality of science and mathematics teaching and learning for over one million students in classrooms across Texas.

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News and Announcements

At the Thirteenth Annual meeeting, Gina Day was awarded
the 2007 TRC Distinguished Service Award.

The Texas Science and Mathematics Diagnostic Systems (TSDS / TMDS )
In the fall of 2007, the TEA/TRC partnership provided a unique 30 hour professional development institute for Texas Chemistry and Physics teachers. Twenty-two certified teachers with assessment experience were recruited to review approximately 500 chemistry and 500 physics test items to ensure the system was populated with valid test items. That is, teachers verified whether the assessment items for TSDS were accurately measuring the state standards. TSDS is an online, browser-based diagnostic assessment system populated with standards (TEKS)-aligned materials that offer classroom teachers the ability to diagnose student strengths and weaknesses in science. TSDS is free to all public and charter schools in Texas.

Visit our TSDS/ TMDS Resource Page.

Early Childhood
With the support of Texas Education Agency funding, the Texas Regional Collaboratives (TRC) has piloted a program of professional development for early childhood teachers and caregivers. The program focuses on the process skills of science, allowing the hands-on activities at the core of the program to be integrated with other content areas and utilized independent of the thematic units prescribed by the curriculum that teachers and caregivers are currently using. To date the program has been field tested with 25 Austin area teachers and a similar four day professional development overview was delivered to Texas Early Education Model (TEEM) coordinators and teachers from twelve sites across the state. Currently, at least two communities are planning to expand the program locally. The TRC is seeking additional funding to conduct research on early childhood science teaching and learning and to scale up the professional development program.

K-8 Geosciences
Beginning in the summer of 2007, the TEA/TRC partnership has supported the dissemination of professional development across the state in TEKS-based Geoscience instructional materials for Kindergarten through Grade 8 teachers and students. This hands-on module was developed at the University of Texas at Dallas and focuses on the TEKS content strands related to the theme of “change over time."  This instructional focus on Geosciences was the result of a needs assessment which indicated that students had low level of mastery on Earth Science concepts on the TAKS at both Grade 5 and Grade 8. As a result of this outreach effort, thousands of teachers across Texas have received professional development and instructional materials for implementation of the lessons contained in this module.

Physics for All
The TEA/TRC partnership is responding to the statewide need for more qualified and competent high school science teachers by disseminating professional development for physics educators. With the requirement of four years of science from the 80th Legislature for all students on the Recommended High School Plan, school districts across Texas are struggling to find highly qualified teachers of physics. The “Physics for All” project is designed to assist those teachers with some physical science background, such as IPC teachers, to improve their content knowledge and instructional skills specifically in physics. “Physics for All” is the result of a partnership between the TRC and the University of Dallas through the Physics Teacher Resource Agent (PTRA) program. PTRA, which is associated with the American Association of Physics Teachers, is a statewide network of highly trained high school physics instructors that serve as a professional resource for teachers of physics statewide.

Bridging II TAKS
Regional Collaboratives across the state are providing training in Bridging II TAKS Module 2: Tools for Measuring Matter through the summer of 2005. This hands-on, TEKS correlated curriculum for K-5 was developed with TEA funding through the Texas Science Center at Region 4 ESC. For specific training dates in your region, please go to the Collaborative link for your area (hotlink the word collaborative to link back to the Collaboratives web page where they can select the specific Collaborative they live near).

TQ Type A Modules
All modules developed in response to the Type A Teacher Quality grant program administered by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in conjunction with the Texas Education Agency are now available online.

Middle School Science II Module (Grade 8)
EXTREME SCIENCE; Dr. L. Hodges UNT
www.tcet.unt.edu/tegs

Integrated Chemistry and Physics (IPC) Module:
IPC AT THE MOVIES; Dr. A. Foster; U of H
www.coe.uh.edu/texasipc

Middle School Science I (Grades 6-7):
INTEGRATED MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE
Dr. Sandra West
Texas State University

Biology Module:
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN BIOLOGY
Dr. Molly Weinburgh
Texas Christian University

Chemistry Module:
CONCEPTUAL CHEMISTRY
Dr. Bob Blake
Texas Tech University
www7.tltc.ttu.edu/kechambe/

Physics Module:
PHYSICS INQUIRY PROJECT
Dr. Kamil Jbeily, Dr. Jim Barifaldi, Marsha Willis
University of Texas at Austin
www.thetrc.org/trc/projects_tcg.html/