Dates for Spring Session:
January 11, 2005 - May 24, 2005

Details:
The PA State GEAR UP Project, a federal grant awarded to the PA State System of Higher Education, is coordinated through the Office of College and Career Awareness. The purpose of GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) is to bring college awareness and preparation to select middle and high schools.

On behalf of the Office of Secondary Education and the PA State GEAR UP Project, you are invited to enroll in any of the following three-credit transferable graduate courses, in the 2005 Spring Session offered by the following State System universities: Cheyney, West Chester, and Kutztown. Courses are aligned with the School District of Philadelphia curricula and also with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation enacted in 2001. Please review the course description on the back for dates and start times.

NCLB legislation has mandated that by 2005-2006, all teachers must be highly qualified, and it allows each state to determine the standards that will ensure that only “highly qualified” teachers provide instruction to each child attending school. In Pennsylvania, one requirement is that all teachers must be qualified, through the teacher certification program, to teach in their content area. In response to this requirement, the PA State GEAR UP program is offering courses specifically designed for elementary certified teachers seeking middle level certification. As you will note in the course descriptions, most course content is directly related to the Praxis II certification exam. Our Praxis pass rate is 77%!

Enrollment Procedures & Requirements:

• To be eligible for these courses, you must be a teacher in a PA State GEAR UP school:
  

Bartram High School-Main, Tilden Middle School, Pepper Middle School, Turner Middle School, Strawberry Mansion High School, Blaine Elementary School, Douglass Elementary School, L.P. Hill Elementary School, E. Washington Rhodes Middle School, Martin Luther King High School, Leeds Middle School, Ada Lewis Middle School, or Wagner Middle School.

• Enroll in courses-preferably by email: Dr. Claudio Cerullo, PA State GEAR UP University Coordinator, West Chester University, (610) 358-5323, cerullo@enter.net

  Important – provide all of the following information in your message:
  Name, address, email address, telephone number, school, course preference, and alternate course choice
  

• The deadline for enrollment is Monday, January 10th, 2005

• All costs, including materials will be paid by the PA State GEAR UP program, except for a $50 refundable registration fee. Please bring a self addressed stamped envelope and a check for $50 made out to the State System of Higher Education to your first class session. This check will be returned to you by mail upon your successful completion of the course requirements. You may take more than one course.

• Site Determination: For the faculty’s convenience, all of the classes will be held at PA State GEAR UP school sites. The course sites will be determined by enrollment numbers. The first school to submit a list of 10 teachers who want to take the same course will become the course site. Class size is limited to 25 teachers. However, if there is an early demand for additional courses, there is a possibility that they can be scheduled.

PA State GEAR UP Teacher Academies Graduate Courses Spring 2005

EDU 565: On-Line Seminar in Assessment and Professional Certification

Dates: February 12 - April 23, 2005.
Location: Introductory sessions- Administration Building, 2120 Winter Street, Room 1001
Instructor: Dr. Thomas Stewart, Kutztown University, Department of Education

“This is a web-based graduate class only for teachers taking the middle level Praxis test. In-class introductory sessions will be held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturday, February 12th and February 19th. At this time, students will meet with the instructor, receive their textbooks, and get an introduction to the course website.” The course is designed as an investigation of the rationale, philosophy, and design theory behind current assessments focusing on the Praxis II exam, while providing a detailed look at the requirements for professional certification. The course will spend a significant amount of time examining how to master the Praxis II test. Other than the two initial classroom meetings, this course will be held on-line using Blackboard software.

EDR 591-Literacy Workshop: Language Arts (On-Line)

Dates: March 19 - April 30, 2005.
Location: First and last sessions will be held at the Administration Building, 2120 Winter Street, Room 1001
Instructor: Dr. JoAnn Yaworski, Ph.D., West Chester University, Literacy Department

This course is primarily web-based graduate-level designed to help teachers pass the Middle School English Language Arts (0049) exam. Four major areas will be covered: (1) Reading and Literature, (2) Language and Linguistics, (3) Composition and Rhetoric, and (4) short essays requiring literary and rhetoric analysis. The course will contain two-3 hour class meetings. The first one will be held from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday, March 19th. At this time, the in-service teachers will meet with the professor to receive textbooks and all web-based instructions. The final meeting will be held from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday April 30th to discuss methods for on-going review and methods for bringing this English content knowledge back to the middle school classroom.

Mathematics Content for Middle School Teachers

Dates: Tuesdays only, (This is NOT an online course) January 11 -May 24, 2005; 4-7 p.m.
Location: TBA
Instructor: Dr. Bernadette Carter, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania,
Department of Mathematics

This course provides an opportunity for both pre-service and in-service teachers to develop a clear understanding of the mathematical concepts, procedures, and processes they will be called on to teach at the middle school level. Instruction will focus on the content categories covered on the Middle School Mathematics Praxis examination such as Arithmetic and Basic Algebra, Geometry and Measurement, Data Probability and Statistical Concepts, and Problem Solving Skills. Instruction will focus primarily on mathematical content and concepts so that students will not only become proficient with middle level math content, but will understand the concepts deeply enough to teach the material effectively to others.

• For more information please call the Direct Service Coordinator at your school:

If you would like more information about the PA State GEAR UP Teacher Academies, please contact
Edie Paige, Office of College and Career Awareness, (215) 299-8913, epaige@phila.k12.pa.us