October 2001 — Features

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Hands-On Professional Development

By Paul Ohme and James Rayford

 

X@XOpenTag008X@XOpenTag007 Tips for Establishing a Teacher FellowshipX@XCloseTag007X@XCloseTag008

Below are some tips for school districts and corporate leaders who are interested in establishing a teacher fellowship program like GIFT:

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  • Recruit strong community leaders from both academia and corporations to champion the program. Current and past chairpersons for GIFT's advisory council have included CEOs or senior VPs from Bell South, Equifax and IBM. It is also critical to have science and math coordinators as well as school superintendents on board. School systems' personnel can weave this program to become part of their teachers' professional development plans.
  • Communicate the program's benefits to a company's bottom line. Educate companies by informing them that they are not only supporting education, but are also gaining a skilled, productive worker.
  • Move the program's administration to the Web. Part of the GIFT program's success is that it is based around a strong technology infrastructure. Key functions such as online registration and online matching have proven to be very successful.

    • X@XOpenTag010Once a Program is Established

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  • Hold teachers accountable to an action plan. Follow up with site visits once a teacher has returned to the classroom. School systems' personnel have a greater credibility for accountability.
  • Provide participating teachers with facilitators or mentors. Teachers require continual support, guidance and ideas for the program to be most effective.
  • Document the program's effectiveness. All aspects of education are moving toward accountability. You need to have a process in place to gauge the effectiveness of student achievement and the actual transfer of experience into the classroom.

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    Paul Ohme is director of CEISMC at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He is a 30-year education veteran with extensive experience as an administrator, computer science professor, researcher and published author. In his current role, Ohme provides strategic direction to all CEISMC programs including the GIFT program.

    E-mail: paul.ohme@ceismc.gatech.edu

    James Rayford currently serves as program manager for the GIFT program. Before this, Rayford was program manager for the Georgia Early Mathematics Placement Test program at Georgia Tech's CEISMC office, helping provide high school juniors with information about their mathematical knowledge prior to enrolling in colleges and universities. Prior to working at CEISMC, Rayford was a middle school and high school mathematics teacher for Dekalb County Schools in Decatur, Ga. During the summers of 1994 and 1995 he participated as a GIFT fellow. In 1997, he served as a GIFT facilitator.

    E-mail: james.rayford@ceismc.gatech.edu

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