NEW MEXICO PARTNERSHIP FOR MATH & SCIENCE EDUCATION April 7, 1997 at the Albuquerque Academy Meeting Summary - Prepared by Patricia Hess Attending: Sharon Adams, Garry Davis, Dorothy Draper, Terry Dunbar, Claire Fenton, Mary Finch, Elaine Hampton, Pat Hess, Barbara Kimbell, Ted Korbin, Vicente Llamas, Larry Martinez, Dick Metzler, Rick Scott and Carole Zibert. Barbara Kimbell reported on the Collaborative for Excellence in Teacher Preparation. A meeting was held at NSF to discuss budget procedures. The official startup date looks like it will be June 1, 1997, with Ricardo Jacquez as Director and Barbara Kimbell as Assistant Director. A meeting will be held with all involved institutions to brainstorm effective use of the $5M support. The funding will be allotted to New Mexico teacher preparation institutions on the basis of competitive review. Barbara emphasized the necessity of collaboration across departments, colleges and institutions in order for proposals to be competitive. Proposals which receive funding might have a September 1, 1997, startup. Vicente Llamas reported on the National Association of State Science & Math Coalitions (NASSMC). The NASSMC Board , on which he serves, recently met in Chicago to review the structure of their organization. Their efforts will be directed to three main goals: 1) Provide a communication network among the state coalitions and other constituent groups, 2) Advocate the goals of the state coalitions nationally, and 3) Facilitate a national effort to obtain financial and technical support for state coalitions. Vicente said financial support looks good. The National Coalition has been invited to send a proposal to NSF as was indicated in a letter that we received from Assistant Director Luther Williams in response to our support to NSF concerning funding for NASSMC. Elaine Hampton reported on a meeting of a sub committee where the decision to hold a workshop for families was finalized. This workshop will be held June 27-28, 1997 with financial support from the Southwest Educational Development Lab (SEDL) and collaboration from many Partnership members. The workshop will be focused on Standards. Sharon Adams from SEDL indicated that their involvement comes out of their Fall Forum where last year the issue was community awareness, with the first topic being, What Are Standards? SEDL sponsors forums in each state. They plan on continuing the forums and wants ideas on topics (sadams@sedl.org). Rick Scott reported that are apparently fewer teachers in secondary math/science student teachers are in the pipeline. Statewide there may be as few as 30 in math and 2 dozen in science. He suggested teacher recruitment as a possible forum topic. Claire Fenton commented that in order to increase the matriculation for math/science students, successful, engaging experiences need to be provided. She pointed out that some MESA high school students after working with lower level students had expressed interest in becoming teachers. Larry Martinez reported convening a group to produce math and science performance standards to present to the State Board of Education on April 29. This is a difficult process and the committee is now discussing levels of performance on the standards and how students should be assessed. The goal is that the State assessments will be aligned with the Benchmarks. Dorothy Draper reported she had a group working on performance standards for the Benchmarks. At the same time, revisions on expectations will be going out for review. It is the hope of the members that these performance standards not be in regulation, as regulations are so difficult to modify. They hope to offer technical assistance--to show how a class would look and how it would be assessed. On August 6, 7 and 8 the State Department will have a workshop for the integration of math/science and other programs. This will probably be held in Albuquerque at UNM. Rick Scott and others reported on the Professional Development Act. The appropriations were lined out and the Act is apparently still in the GovernorŐs in basket. Various project directors expressed interest in providing financial support so that copies of important state documents could reach teachers and that technical assistance could be provided. Dr. Florence Fassanelli of the Mathematics Association of America is interested in getting universities to provide outreach networking with community pre-college mathematics. Vicente took the names of Math Department Chairs to contact. Ted Korbin (PNM) would like to collaborate with APS with respect to energy education. He is interested in a hands-on operation, creating a collaboration to nurture students, students who plan to stay in New Mexico. The goal of the endeavor is to nurture, develop and coach students. Ted will bring information to the next Board meeting on two energy institutes that might provide funding. $200000 in State funding has been given for Advanced Placement. This is due in part to the efforts of Senator Bingaman and his staff. The funding priorities are for increasing school participation, teacher development, and school vertical articulation. Teams of teachers have been established. NASSMC will sponsor a fall conference in Denver or Chicago and anticipates the state will send 4 or 5 people. In VicenteŐs opinion, there will be some external financial support for this. Vicente reported that the Comprehensive Regional Center for Minorities (CRCM) project is officially over, having met all its goals. Claire Fenton reported success in summer institute ASEP with technology. Teachers use graphing calculators in summer school course and then in their classrooms during the regular year. Barbara Kimbell suggested that pre-service teachers might be hired by the Alliance for Minority Participation to participate as Assistants during the summer courses. Ted Korbin was nominated and elected to the Board of the Partnership. The next meeting is tentatively scheduled Friday, June 27, at the Holiday Inn Ballroom, University and Menaul from 9:00AM-noon. Mary Finch and Elaine Hampton are working on a summer workshop for math/science materials selection, to assure that they align with the Standards and promote equity. The meeting adjourned at 4:07 PM.