Calvin profs receive $400K in grants to improve the teaching of math and writing in Grand Rapids-area schools

Calvin education professor John Walcott received a $200,000 Improving Teacher Quality Grant from the Michigan Department of Education. He, along with English professors Elizabeth Vander Lei and Dean Ward will work for a year-and-a-half with teachers from Lighthouse Academy, a public charter school, and The Potter's House Christian School.

Calvin mathematics professor Jan Koop also received a $200,000 grant to work for a year-and-a-half with Kindergarten through sixth grade teachers from four area schools: Parkview Elementary School and AnchorPoint Christian School in Wyoming and New Branches and William C. Abney Academy in Grand Rapids.

For Walcott, this is his first year teaching at Calvin College and his first Improving Teacher Quality Grant. His project will focus on writing across the curriculum--incorporating writing into every academic subject. Vander Lei and Ward will teach the teachers to create writing assignments that emphasize the content of various disciplines (math, science, history, etc.), how to fit those assignments into a curriculum and how to complete and grade them.

"The schools we're working with want to improve their students' writing, and we want to work with them so that their students are better writers, more effective writers and more willing writers," Walcott said.
As for Koop, she's taught at Calvin since 1989, and this is her fifth Teacher Quality Grant since 2005. During that stretch, she's invested more than $1 million in grant money in area schools. Her goal with her most recent grant is the same as the previous four: to improve area teachers' math skills, while also helping them to understand math concepts deeply. She accomplishes this, in part, through an intensive one-week summer session at Calvin and regular workshops throughout the year at each of the schools. Evaluation of previous grants consistently shows that the professional development opportunities improved teachers' math proficiency and attitudes toward teaching mathematics.
"This is my way of putting money back into the schools that need it so badly, and specifically in mathematics," said Koop. "I enjoy working with teachers, and it informs my teaching at Calvin. It keeps me 'real.'"
For more information on Walcott and Koop's grants, visit http://www.calvin.edu/news/archive/two-200-000-grants-for-improving-teacher-quality .
Contact Walcott at 616-526-6032 or jrw7@calvin.edu. Contact Koop at 616-526-6427 or kooj@calvin.edu.Photos available upon request.
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Received on Fri Apr 12 09:19:42 2013