When Patti Abraham left MSU in 1979 with her bachelor's degree in education, she longed to use her knowledge to make a difference in the lives of the children she would teach-and she hoped to inspire them to success.
As the director of the Research and Curriculum Unit at MSU, Abraham now has the opportunity to continue to achieve her goals on a much higher level, with her efforts reaching students across the state.
With a grant from the State of Mississippi, the RCU is working to redesign Mississippi's K-12 education system and improve education by writing new curricula, training teachers, conducting research, setting up labs, and studying best practices. A major component of the work deals with drop-out prevention.
"I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to lead the group working on such an important project," Abraham said. "A lot of children in our state don't think they can be successful. If we come together as a community, we can show them that children in Mississippi are as smart as the children in any other state. We can show them they can be successful and help prepare them for college."