Colorado State Receives a $428,000 Grant from Hewlett Packard to Improve Math and Science Education in High-Need Schools

Colorado State University’s Center for Science Mathematics and Technology Education, in support of its Center for Learning and Teaching in the West project, or CLTW, has been awarded a $428,000 grant from the Hewlett-Packard Company. The gift will support CLTW’s focus on enhancing science and mathematics classroom instruction and professional development for teachers working in high-needs schools throughout Colorado, Montana and Oregon.

The Center for Learning and Teaching in the West is a consortium of five universities: Colorado State University; the University of Northern Colorado; Portland State University; the University of Montana; and Montana State University. The consortium additionally partners with urban and rural school districts, and tribal and community colleges throughout all three states.

Started in 2001 and funded in part by the National Science Foundation, the project’s goals are to:

• Increase the number of highly qualified mathematics and science teachers;
• Provide professional development and support to secondary mathematics and science teachers in low-income, high-minority schools;
• Use technology to improve education programs;
• Prepare the next generation of leaders in science and mathematics education.
• HP’s grant is enhancing CLTW’s efforts by providing laptops and Internet access for participating teachers who lack these resources, providing training for teachers on how to effectively use technology to improve science and mathematics instruction," said Ed Geary, director of CSMATE and the CTLW project. "The grant is also increasing the consortium’s ability to develop a set of best practices for the use of computer and Internet technologies in the classroom."

Hewlett Packard’s grant to CTLW includes:

• HP equipment worth $279,028, including: 112 HP Pavilion notebook computers (40 to Colorado; 36 each to Oregon and Montana); 14 digital projectors; 40 inkjet printers.
• One HP Wireless Mobile Classroom for CSMATE at Colorado State, which includes: 30 HP Omnibook notebook computers; one HP OfficeJet All-in-One printer and fax; two wireless LAN Cards; an HP digital camera; teaching software and a MobiLAN ONE motorized cart for storing, recharging and moving the computers, valued at $95,264.
• $54,240 for teacher professional development, software, Internet access, digital video cameras and other technical equipment.
• The CLTW project is helping to produce homegrown district teacher and administrative leaders who will assist other teachers with training and technology support long after their formal participation in the project has ended," said Geary. "Ultimately, CLTW’s emphasis on high-quality professional and leadership development, research on teaching and learning, and effective use of computer and Internet technologies will help to close the achievement gap in mathematics and science in high-needs schools not only in Colorado, Montana and Oregon, but around the entire country."

The CLTW consortium has developed cooperative agreements with administrators in each participating school district. In Oregon, the focus is on Portland public schools; in Montana, tribal and other rural schools; and in Colorado the initial focus is rural schools in the north and central eastern plains as well as some high-needs schools in the Denver area. Over time, the professional development focus in Colorado will include more Denver schools as well as other rural and urban schools in other parts of the state.

High-needs schools are defined as those in which one or more of the following characteristics exist: a high percentage of low-income students on free or reduced lunch; a high percent of students who perform significantly below district, state and national averages in mathematics and science; schools with poor facilities, inadequate resources and limited opportunities for teachers or students in mathematics and science.

For more information about the Center for Learning and Teaching in the West, visit the Center for Science Mathematics and Technology Education at www.csmate.colostate.edu.