The University of Minnesota STEM Education Center is a recipient of a College Ready grant from the Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation, which will provide mathematics tutors/mentors to 135 eighth and eleventh graders in Minneapolis during the 2013-14 academic year. The $300,000 award will support the Prepare2Nspire program, which prepares underserved students to succeed on grade-level, high-stakes mathematics exams and to inspire them to continue their study of mathematics.
Prepare2Nspire is an innovative, cascading, multi-grade mathematics tutoring and mentoring opportunity that will include graphing calculator technology.
Principal Investigator Dr. Lesa Covington Clarkson, associate professor, has a history of working in urban schools with diverse populations in the Twin Cities. “Too often, underrepresented students aren’t served in our urban classrooms,” she said. “This program will provide additional time and tools to support students in their mathematics learning.”
As university undergraduate students will be tutoring and mentoring eleventh grade algebra 2 students in the program, the eleventh grade cohort will be tutoring and mentoring eighth grade algebra students. Graphing calculator technology will support students’ development of algebraic thinking and their preparation for postsecondary study.
Every student profits from this model, according Clarkson. Tutors are developing mathematics communication and reasoning skills as they explain content in which they were recently engaged and at the same time they are developing roots in mathematics that are fundamental to their current study. Middle school participants are receiving individualized tutoring and mentoring services designed to meet their unique challenges in the mathematics content studied. Simultaneously, grade-level skills will be continually addressed through mini lessons at weekly meetings.
The University’s ACT/SAT Review Program also received an award of $21,721 to help 180 high school students through a 10-week ACT review program. Led by Ernest Davenport, associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, the program addresses test-taking and other issues for academically at-risk students. It’s been offered for more than 20 years.
The Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation awarded more than $4 million in May to 34 student-centered programs that will serve nearly 4,000 students in Minnesota and Wisconsin in grades 6 through 12 and adult learners. Each program is actively preparing more students to succeed academically, enroll in college, and then succeed in college-level coursework.
Part of the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD), the STEM Education Center includes researchers from five U of M colleges, with core faculty from CEHD’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction.
Read the Minnesota Daily story on Prepare2Nspire.