Rural NC teachers will get intensive math training under new grant
Rural North Carolina teachers will get two years of math training, designed to improve students' math performance, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction announced Monday.
The U.S. Department of Education is giving the department $7.9 million to train 300 rural North Carolina teachers in the upper elementary grades. The program will include individualized instruction for the teachers and will be ongoing for two years. Teachers will rotate in and out of the program over five years.
Math scores are lower in rural schools than the state average, according to the department.
The program, called Patterns for Reaching and Impacting Students in Math, is designed by Carnegie Learning and will be administered by DPI and nonprofit education consultant WestEd.
The program's goal is to improve math scores among lowest-achieving students, low-income students and groups of students who are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers. That could include girls, Black students and other students.
Rural math teachers often lack the network of fellow math teachers that teachers in bigger school systems can find, State Superintendent Catherine Truitt said in the news release announcing the program. The program will provide coaches and peer support, both in-person and virtually.
Typical professional development is one-time training that teachers implement themselves. The Patterns program, Truitt noted, will include guidance on how to improve instruction and include help reviewing and revising that instruction over time.
