Programa universitario de apoyo a la enseñanza de ciencia y matemáticas en los colegios de los EE.UU. recibe ambigua evaluación
El Chronicle of Higher Education informa hoy del Report Who Benefits? The Effect of STEM Faculty Engagement in MSP, que evalúa el impacto de un Programa estrella de la National Science Foundation (NSF) de los EE.UU., mediante el cual profesores de colleges universitarios ofrecen apoyo y capacitación a profesores de matemática y ciencia de colegios en los grados K-12.
Breve presentación del Proyecto
The Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program at the National Science Foundation (NSF) is a major national research and development effort that supports innovative partnerships to improve K–12 student achievement in mathematics and science.
The funded projects were designed to:
Enhance schools’ capacity to provide challenging curricula for all students and encourage more students to succeed in advanced courses in mathematics and the sciences;
Increase the number, quality, and diversity of mathematics and science teachers, especially in underserved areas;
Engage and support scientists, mathematicians, and engineers at local universities and local industries to work with K–12 educators and students;
Contribute to a greater understanding of how students effectively learn mathematics and science and how teacher preparation and professional development can be improved; and
Promote institutional and organizational change in education systems — from kindergarten through graduate school — to sustain partnerships’ promising practices and policies.
Solicitations between 2002 and 2004 funded in three cohorts of projects consist of four components:
Comprehensive partnerships implement change across the K–12 continuum in mathematics, science, or both.
Targeted partnerships focus on improved student achievement in a narrower grade range or disciplinary focus in mathematics and/or science.
Institute partnerships develop mathematics and science teachers as school- and district-based intellectual leaders and master teachers.
Research, Evaluation, and Technical Assistance (RETA) activities assist partnership awardees in the implementation and evaluation of their work.
Los resultados de este proyecto, si bien interesantes para los profesores, muestran escaso impacto en el aprendizaje de los alumnos, señala el comentario del Chronicle.
Ver el Informe completo aquí
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Professors' Impact in NSF Science-Education Effort Proves Difficult to Gauge
By JEFFREY BRAINARD
The Chornicle of Higher Education, June 19, 2009
A new report presents decidedly mixed news about the impact of college professors in one of the National Science Foundation’s signature, nationwide projects to improve mathematics and science education. The test scores of school students involved in the Math and Science Partnership program have risen, for example, but little evidence exists that the professors deserve the credit.
On the plus side, schoolteachers and college faculty members said their participation in the program was worthwhile and stimulating, according to the report on a study by researchers at Westat Inc., a research corporation based in Rockville, Md. But many participants also harbored doubts about whether the improvement efforts at schools and colleges would persist after NSF financing ended, even though the projects are intended to continue on their own.
The NSF started the Math and Science Partnership program, or MSP, in 2002 to test a simple notion: that college professors in math and science could help improve the mediocre performance of American students on mathematics and science tests relative to peers in other countries. The idea was that the academics could help schoolteachers improve their content knowledge and that the professors would encourage more of their college students to consider careers as schoolteachers.
To date, the NSF has financed 75 such projects involving 150 colleges, most of which are still in progress. A research university is typically the lead partner. Congress has supported the program as a way to boost the economy through technological innovation; the program’s budget this year is $61-million.
No Silver Bullet
Despite high hopes that colleges would spark change, relatively few college professors have joined the program—about 900 as of 2006, Westat found. Many tenure-track professors were not rewarded for participation because tenure-and-promotion policies at research institutions reward faculty members in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) primarily based on their scholarship. And most universities that received the program’s grants did not change their policies significantly to help the faculty members involved.
“Proponents who are looking for a silver bullet to solve STEM education woes will be slightly disappointed at the results” of the program so far, said Westat’s report, “Who Benefits? The Effect of STEM Faculty Engagement in MSP,” which was financed by the science agency. “However, for opponents who think STEM faculty are irrelevant in the picture, their criticisms are not substantiated either.”
The lack of evidence that the participating academics affected students’ test scores reflects that the professors were working directly with schoolteachers, not students, wrote the Westat authors, who were led by Xiaodong Zhang. The connection between the scores and the professors’ involvement is difficult to study rigorously even though it represents a key component of the program’s success, they wrote.
That link remains of interest to the NSF and is being studied by other scholars financed by the agency, says the program’s director, James E. Hamos. A formal evaluation of the program, by a different firm, is in progress.
The Westat report also suggests that liberal-arts colleges and regional state colleges might prove a better venue for future improvement efforts because of their commitment to teaching. And college scholars not on the tenure track may be an untapped source of participants.
Publicado por: jjbrunner