CONNECT-ED

Professional Development in Science and Mathematics      
               

Rider University - CONNECT-ED Phase II:  Update
WIRED BIO-1 Team Meeting, April 6, 2009

  • October 28, 2008:  Phase II Kick-Off Event
  • Oct. 2008 – Jan., 2009:  Develop PLC leadership training with Lois Brown Easton of the National Staff Development Council (NSDC:  www.nsdc.org)
  • January 29-30, 2009:  2009 PLC Winter Leadership Institute
  • All PLCs develop goals and 3-year action plans/PLC Grant requests
    • C-E Staff provides technical support to all PLCs
  • February 18 and 25, 2009:  Train-the-Trainers Workshops
    • 1st cohort of 14 district “Big Ideas Trainers,” 1 per district
  • June 24-26, 2009:  2009 PLC Summer Leadership Institute

 

Impact of WIRED/BIO-1 Funding

  • PLCs have the financial resources they need to carry out their work in district (in very lean times!); coupled with BMS Block Grant funds; $6,500/year in years 1 and 2 of the program.
  • Increased impact on/involvement of high school teachers = increased inquiry-based science at the high school level

Recent Notable Quotes About CONNECT-ED

  • “Not only is this a ‘best practice,’ it is the best best practice I have ever seen.”  Victoria Duff, teacher quality coordinator, Office of Professional Standards, NJ Dept of Education (1/09).
  • “I learned more in one day about teaching groups than in 35 years of teaching.”  Dr. Barbara Zilinskas, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University (4/09).

CONNECT-ED Phase I (2003-08): Teacher Learning Around the Big Ideas in Science/Math
                       

CONNECT-ED Phase II (2008-11):  PLCs Bring *Big Ideas Thinking into the District
                  

*Big Ideas Thinking = concept connections, grade-level connections, teaching/learning by inquiry

 

       
WIRED site