Project PROMISE A Jacob K. Javits Grant Virginia Department of Education

Overview Participants Goals Curriculum Units Professional Development Evaluation and data Web site

Participants Source Division – Prince William County Public Schools Demonstration Divisions – Divisions that had a significantly high population of potentially gifted students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds Greensville County Public Schools Martinsville City Public Schools

Goals To develop training materials that will assist general education teachers, K-3, to recognize strengths and giftedness in children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds To develop hands-on instructional materials that will encourage learning behaviors in these children to enable them to work successfully in class and in gifted programs

Why Science? Science is easily done in hands-on format Science provides ways for teachers to find evidence of students’ strengths in many areas, both verbal and nonverbal Science has a focus on questions as well as answers

Curriculum Units Problem-based, inquiry learning Questioning for critical thinking Hands-on science – Life Science – Earth Science – Physical Science Extension/differentiation activities to meet needs of all children Pre-/post-assessments Virginia Standards of Learning correlations Reflection

Professional Development Topics included: – Science content knowledge – Questioning strategies for high level thinking – Strategies for classroom management – Strategies for differentiation and grouping – Strategies for writing lessons and curriculum – Characteristics of giftedness in disadvantaged populations

Professional Development Differentiated for teachers’ needs and prior knowledge Ongoing follow-through and feedback Based upon best practices from research Collaborative model Humor Short, focused sessions Administrators included

Current Data On the Grade 3 Science SOL test, students in Project PROMISE scored significantly higher than students who did not participate. These results are important because they are actually comparing same-age peers who participated in the project and those who did not.

Current Data Students who participated in Project PROMISE for two or three years consistently outperformed students who did not participate on all measures.

Current Data The average scores for Project PROMISE participants were higher than the overall average of all students tested.

What We Learned So Far… Students demonstrated significant gains on test scores Teachers say students remember more Teachers gained confidence in their professional capabilities Teachers gained confidence in recognizing areas of strength in students as well as characteristics of giftedness The excitement of the students generated excitement in the teachers It works!

Web site Grant overview Curriculum units Professional development components Administrators’ information Resources Video clips

For More Information Web Site – Virginia Department of Education – Ruth Grillo, Principal Investigator (804)