$35 million grant awarded to 'U' for K-12 improvement in math, science

A $35 million grant announced Thursday will allow a team of 50 MSU faculty members to work to improve math and science teaching and achievement for K-12 schools in Michigan and Ohio.

The grant was given by the National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency supporting research and education in science and engineering. The foundation, which has a $5.3 billion annual budget, receives 30,000 grant requests per year. Of those, 10,000 are awarded.

Provost Lou Anna Simon said the grant is a testament to the academic strengths of MSU. She said because grants are so competitive, it takes a nationally recognized faculty to receive one.

"Without the power of knowledge here, this grant wouldn't have been possible," she said. "This is a good illustration of how the knowledge base of higher education can be used to help not only the quality of higher education, but also K-12 education."

William Schmidt, university distinguished professor in the College of Education and co-leader of the project, said there is an immediate threat to the quality of math and science curriculums, not only in Michigan and Ohio, but in the United States as a whole.

He said the results of the Third International Math and Science Study, taken in 1995 and 1999, show that students in the United States are behind nearly every other country in their math and science skills.

Manny Van Pelt, a spokesman for the National Science Foundation, said the grant provides an innovative approach to addressing shortcomings in science and math in K-12 schools by partnering with universities.

"It represents an actual investment in the future of math and science in the United States," Van Pelt said. "By approaching how we teach at these levels, the goal is to prepare a future workforce for the United States."

The MSU team is partnered with school districts in Calhoun, Ingham and St. Clair counties, as well as districts in the Cleveland and Cincinnati areas.

Research conducted with the grant money will affect an estimated 400,000 students, 5,000 teachers and 70 school districts in Michigan and Ohio.

The money will go toward a five-year project, dubbed "Promoting Outcomes in Mathematics and Science Education," which will be a collaborative effort between MSU's education and natural science colleges.

Schmidt said the $35 million will be shared by the colleges, not divvied up between them.

"The study is designed to collect a great deal of evidence about where the difficulties are in the math and sciences and to understand the curriculum kids have," he said. "We will then use that evidence to reform the curriculum and design a system whereby teacher subject matter can be improved for professional development."

Joan Ferrini-Mundy, associate dean of the College of Natural Science and co-leader of the project, said the grant is significant in both size and focus. Because the project will impact so many students and teachers, she said, there must be a great deal of research involved.

"It's our expectation that, through this research, we will develop new knowledge that will be valuable nationwide," Ferrini-Mundy said.

Ferrini-Mundy said to carry out the research, money will be allocated to the partners. Some of the funding will go to the schools to support their efforts and some to teachers to support their summer workshops.

Schmidt said because the world has become a global marketplace, competition for the best jobs has increased exponentially, so students in the United States need to be more versed in math and science.

"It's no longer just the kid sitting next to them in school that they're competing with," he said. "It's the people getting educated around the world."

Evan Rondeau can be reached at rondeau1@msu.edu.