New Project to Increase Elementary Math Specialists in High-Need Urban Schools

ATLANTA—College of Education & Human Development faculty members Susan Swars Auslander, Carla Tanguay and Gary Bingham and College of Arts and Sciences professor Alexandra Smirnova at Georgia State University have established an initiative to increase the number of elementary mathematics specialists in high-need urban schools.

The Preparing, Supporting and Retaining Elementary Mathematics Specialists (PSREMS) Project will recruit and develop 26 elementary teachers into elementary mathematics specialists. They will be highly effective mathematics teachers in their classrooms and teacher-leaders in their schools and districts.

The research team will partner with Gwinnett County Public Schools and Corners Outreach, an education-focused nonprofit organization, on the project, which will give participants annual salary supplements, a professional learning community and mentoring while they complete the College of Education & Human Development’s kindergarten through fifth grade mathematics endorsement and teacher support and coaching endorsement.

“The teachers serving as elementary mathematics specialists will cultivate their own students’ mathematical capacity to succeed and support their peer teachers in making meaningful changes in their mathematics instruction,” said Auslander, the project’s principal investigator. “They will also coach our university teacher candidates and make important community connections. Partnerships among Georgia State, local schools and community organizations hold tremendous benefits for all who are involved.”

This work is supported by a five-year, $2.3 million Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program grant from the National Science Foundation. For more information, click here.