Highly Qualified Teachers and Improving Teacher QualityState Grant Program

The University of Oklahoma Center for Effective Schools, CCE, and the College of Arts and Sciences collaborated with Rogers State University College of Liberal Arts and Cameron University College of Education to improve teacher quality. The EQUAL (Effective QUality for All Learners) Project began with a one week Summer Institute held June 18th through June 22nd in Kansas, Oklahoma at the Northeast Technology Center. The project will continue into the upcoming school year with on-site follow up visits, an integration workshop, and content area institutes to sustain core content knowledge and research-based teaching strategies. The goal of the EQUAL Project is to ensure that teachers have the subject-matter knowledge and teaching skills necessary to help all children achieve high academic standards, regardless of individual learning styles or needs.

Ten partner LEAs, serving 3,412 students and 30 teachers, were impacted. These teachers were distributed among 11 schools including: Briggs, Dahlonegah, Kenwood, Leach, Moseley, Peavine, Salina Elementary and Middle Schools, Shady Grove, Watts, and Woodall. Four counties were represented in LEA partnerships for the EQUAL Project: Adair, Cherokee, Delaware, and Mayes. A common thread among all partner schools is high poverty, low student academic achievement, and the need for quality professional development for teachers to extend content knowledge of PASS in reading, math, and science integrating research-based instructional strategies.