Contact: Morgan Tubbs
STARKVILLE, Miss.--More than 100 public school educators across the state will be ultimate beneficiaries of a new three-year partnership grant awarded to Mississippi State.
The $1.2 million award to the university's Center for Educational and Training Technology comes from the Mississippi Department of Education. It will be used to create a statewide, professional learning community that works to increase the number of qualified mathematics teachers for grades 4-8.
The funding also will be used to help expand mathematical content knowledge and pedagogical skills of participating teachers.
Boosting student achievements is the grant's long-term objective, said CETT director Betty Latimer.
"We are excited about the opportunity to work with instructors throughout the state, so that these teachers will have the professional and leadership skills they need to leave a lasting impact on the educational community," Latimer added.
The grant will allow the center's staff to join with the classroom leaders to develop instructional and professional skills both in and outside the classroom.
The major project also will involve staff and resources of Mississippi State's College of Education and its curriculum and instruction department. Other partners include the university's Extension Service and Center for Technology Outreach; Mississippi University for Women; Iowa State University; East Central Community College; NASA's Stennis Educator Resource Center; Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (operated by the California and Massachusetts institutes of technology); and Wisconsin-based Renaissance Learning Inc.
Latimer said this latest partnership continues the center's long-standing collaborative tradition of training and instruction for professionals in the field.
Since being established in 1996, CETT has worked with learning institutions at all levels throughout the state to develop and implement innovative instructional technologies, as well as enhancing teaching and learning.
With offices on the third floor of the Bost Extension Service Building, the center's staff is divided between two major divisions: the Technology and Training Group and Multimedia Development Group.
For more information on the center and its projects, visit www.cett.msstate.edu or contact Latimer at 662-325-9425.