Abstract
This article gives meaning to innovating promising practices in high poverty rural contexts, as experienced by the Rural Math Excel Partnership (RMEP). The project sought to develop a model of shared school-family-community responsibility to support student success in foundational math courses as preparation for science, technology, engineering, mathematics and health (STEM-H) careers. RMEP was one of the two rural development grant awards in the 2012 federal fiscal year, the first year for awards in the rural priority area of the U. S. Department of Education’s Investing in Innovation (i3) program. High poverty rural areas may have major implications for fidelity of implementation and measurement of intended impacts that raise important questions about project organizational structures, capacities and evaluation needs. If significant external funding and a partnership approach are key catalysts for innovating solutions to educational challenges, the answers to 10 questions of readiness could have major implications for project success.
Highlights
The term innovation dates back to the Greeks and Romans, with widespread use after the Reformation (Godin, as cited in Murphy, 2013)
In 2010 OII began operating the Investing in Innovation (i3) program and made awards in the 2010-2016 fiscal years before being replaced by the Education and Innovation Research (EIR) program authorized in the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015
We discovered at the end that district leaders knew only about “pieces” of the project— usually the piece they were most involved with as a major challenge or success in their schools
Summary
- Math teachers participate in professional development on use of MAS guide for integrating videos into lesson plans. - Parent/family member(s) and student attend communitydeveloped event on STEM careers. Long-term Outcomes - Percentage of students in prerequisite math courses in grades 8-10 who achieve proficiency on end-of-course test - Percentage of 2nd semester 1oth grade students with interest in STEM technician career field preregister for appropriate advanced studies course(s) (as recommended in MAS guide). More 10th grade students in rural areas ready for advanced high school studies (including dual enrollment and AP courses) required for STEM careers as technicians
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