The Daily Reflector, January 28, 2019
A public-private educational partnership will augment mathematics instruction at North Pitt High School this semester as part of a project to partner remote expertise with teachers on site at schools statewide.
The College Board and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics are partnering with Chapel Hill-based Public Impact to reach rural North Carolina school districts with excellent NCSSM teachers, the partnership announced last week. The pilot project will focus on precalculus courses through June.
The effort will partner NCSSM teacher Maria Hernandez with North Pitt’s Sarah Donaldson as well as teachers at three other schools: Stanford Wickham at Vance County High School; Jocelyn Thammavong and Ashley Knox at New Bern High School; and Corrette Miller of Lexington Senior High School.
Hernandez will coach the teachers and provide instruction to students herself remotely, the news release said. The pilot effort will lay the groundwork to add more remotely located multi-classroom leaders from NCSSM and elsewhere.
“I am excited to be part of this project because I will be working with dedicated pre-calculus teachers from across North Carolina,” Hernandez said. “Our hope is to support each other as we share teaching practices and rigorous curriculum that will engage students and foster mathematical curiosity. Working to prepare students for higher-level mathematics courses can help us pave the way for greater access to STEM careers in the future.”
The pilot is an extension of Public Impact’s national Opportunity Culture initiative, the news release said. The initiative extends the reach of excellent teachers and their teams to more students, for more pay, within schools’ recurring budgets.
Opportunity Culture multi-classroom leaders usually lead a small grade or subject teaching team within one school, providing instructional guidance and frequent on-the-job coaching while continuing to teach part of the time.