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Urban Systemic Programs (USP): Beyond Experiments
USP integrates lessons from two earlier efforts.
Urban school systems enroll more than a third of all
public school students in the United States. In spite
of some progress, a continued disparity exists between
the academic performance of these students and that
of their suburban counterparts in both science and
mathematics. The Urban Systemic Program is an extension
of two earlier programs to improve the performance
of all students in science and mathematics. One, the
Urban Systemic Initiatives (USI), focused on the largest
cities with the greatest percentages of minority and
underserved students. The other, Comprehensive Partnerships
for Mathematics and Science Achievement (CPMSA), served
medium-to-large cities with a large minority student
population.
USP goals. The Urban Systemic Program aims to
extend support to urban school districts that have
an established infrastructure for change and have
begun implementing system-wide reform. Goals include:
enabling urban school districts to continue fostering
experimentation; accelerating the rate of change;
and producing improvement in student learning for
grades K-12 in mathematics, science and technology.
School systems also seek to increase the competency
and diversity of the science and mathematics instructional
workforce, as well as the number of skilled workers
entering the technology and information-based economy.
The school districts are encouraged to partner with
local two-year and four-year institutions to develop
better teaching practices and to embed a research
base into their programs. Partnerships formed within
NSF's Urban Systemic Initiatives have been instrumental
in USI successes. The relationships will continue
under USP to:
- involve two-year colleges to improve technological
education at the high school level;
- bring urban school districts and four-year colleges
and universities together to train and develop
a diverse cadre of science and mathematics teachers;
- use graduate students and postdoctoral professionals
to expand and deepen K-12 teachers' understanding
of their subject matter and knowledge.
For more information, see: http://www.ehr.nsf.gov/EHR/ESR/usp.asp
See also:
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