The Successful Partnership Enhancement Program (PEP) Model in Appalachian Schools

Authors: Dr. Wimberly Royster, Dr. John Yopp, Dr. Harold Peach, Barbara Shoemaker

In recent years concern has developed over the preparedness of elementary and secondary students to pursue postsecondary study in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, and what this means for the future economic competitiveness of the United States and its standing as a world leader in science. The performance of U.S. students on both national (National Assessment of Educational Progress-NAEP) and international (Third International Mathematics and Science Study-TIMSS) measures of achievement indicates that the majority of U.S. students are woefully underprepared to pursue scientific careers.

The reasons for this lack of preparedness are complex and various. Among the potential contributors to the decline are structural factors, such as leadership practices, the decentralized nature of the U.S. education system, and the disconnect between the elementary and secondary education system and the postsecondary education system.

Leithwood, Louis, Anderson, and Wahlstrom (2004) found that leadership practices are second only to classroom instruction among school-related factors that affect student learning. Among the aspects of leadership they advance are developing human capital/capacity and modifying organizational structures to create a more collaborative culture. "A distributed perspective on school leadership (Spillan et al., 2001) considers the ways in which principals, assistant principals, curriculum coordinators, and teacher leaders share responsibility for instructional leadership. It also draws attention to the importance of materials to the practice of leadership. Reforms are shaped in part through teacher leaders' decision about where reform expertise resides." (Hoang, 2008).

The decentralized nature of the U.S. education system has resulted in a diverse assortment of district and state curricula. Addressing the deficiencies in each curriculum must thus be addressed locally. In Rising Above the Gathering Storm (Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy, 2007) the authors allude to this and acknowledge the difficulty of the problem when they assert that "...because the United States does not have a set of national [STEM] curricula, changing K-12 education is challenging given that there are almost 15,000 school systems in the U.S." (p. 15). In the AMSP districts, each school decides its own curricula and thus has different STEM deficiencies and different needs for strategic enhancement of their mathematics and science curricular and instructional programs. These needs range from professional development of teachers for critical content gaps and pedagogical skills, such as formative assessment and differentiated instruction, to assistance with the development of standards-based STEM curricula.

Carnegie's Community Engagement Classification describes the challenges in addressing the disconnect between K-12 and higher education stating, "...community involvement requires new understanding, new skills, and even a different way of conceptualizing community. There are generally significant barriers left over from both internal and external perceptions of the campus as an 'ivory tower,' and those barriers must be addressed for authentic community partnership to develop." (Driscoll, 2008, p. 41). Dolan, Erin, Tanner, and Kimberly (2005) go further stating, "...we propose that the role of institutions of higher education must change, moving from initial efforts in outreach, a stance characterized by offering expertise and supporting external reform, to a more enduring approach of partnership, which demands that both partners examine their own science teaching and learning and promote both external and internal reform." (p. 35).

The rationale for the development of a science and mathematics intervention program like the Partnership Enhancement Program (PEP) derives its validity from the findings described above. A model is needed that brings together K-12 and higher education educators to addresses local needs, so as to build a local culture of collaborative leadership capacity for enhancing teacher quality that leads to improved student outcomes.

The Partnership Enhancement Program is a unique model developed for academically and economically disadvantaged schools in the Appalachian region. This small grant program, created by the Appalachian Math and Science Partnership (AMSP), funds year-long collaboration between individual K-12 school districts and partner institutions of higher education (IHEs) to address locally identified STEM education challenges within their schools. The model centers on a process of school-centered data-driven analysis and initiative assisted by IHE faculty expertise. After five rounds of funding in these rural schools of 51 districts (2003-2008), external evaluators have found the PEP to be effective in addressing school-specific barriers to student achievement, specifically improving student achievement, facilitating the growth of STEM professional learning communities, and improving program evaluation and data-driven management practices in schools and districts. Furthermore, it empowers teachers through engagement of their expertise and validating their central role in designing and implementing reform projects.

In order for the partnership to be viable, the school and the IHE partner(s) both meaningfully and effectively have to contribute to the design, implementation and evaluation of the mathematics and/or science reform activity. This latter characteristic has been viewed by AMSP's external evaluators as providing "empowerment" in the form of a voice and role for the preK-12 teacher partner(s) that, as evidenced above, is often lacking in the U.S. primary, middle and secondary school system. This approach is ideally suited for teacher professional development in central Appalachia and has been welcomed by the Appalachian teachers, as supported by the following statement from the AMSP's external evaluator:

"At a time when local expertise and individual teacher knowledge have been disconnected, devalued and even dismissed, the AMSP has taken a decidedly different stand - seeking out, honoring and cultivating the local voice. One of their operating assumptions was that a top down theory of action would not take root in the mountains of Appalachia. By most accounts the AMSP was on to something. People respond when they feel heard and respected." (External Evaluators, Inverness Research Associates)