American Indian Program
Arizone State University East
 

The Arizona-Rural Systemic Initiative (AZ-RSI)

Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for five years, the AZ-RSI is a collaboration of small, rural K-12 schools dedicated to improving student learning in mathematics, science and technology. The grant has been funded from March 1, 2002 through February 28, 2007.

AZ-RSI Goals

  • Establish Collaborative Learning Environments and Shared Leadership at the school sites
  • Deepen Teachers' Understanding of Standards-based Content, Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment in Mathematics and Scienc
  • Create School Environments in which Multiple Data Measures are Integrated into all Levels of  Decision-Making
  • Create School Systems with High Levels of Learning in Mathematics and Science for All Students
  • Develop an Infrastructure to Support and Sustain Successful Reform Strategies

Each AZ-RSI school has two Lead Teachers and a Leadership Team. Each team writes an investigation plan, based on data and research, to improve mathematics and science learning for students. To support the teams and Lead Teachers, each school has an AZ-RSI field specialist who helps facilitate the work on-site.

In addition, the NSF has awarded the AZ-RSI supplemental funding for the last two years of funding (March 1, 2005 – February 28, 2007). Part of this funding goes to the schools to create robust professional development plans as part of their investigation plans. Other funding from the supplemental grant supports a second Lead Teacher from each of the schools, encouraging collaboration and shared leadership.

Each year, the Lead Teachers attend three, 2-day academies that are focused on standards-based teaching and learning. The lead teachers have the responsibility of sharing what they learn back at the school site. Some of the professional development strategies used include study groups and examining-student-work. Lead Teachers also implement instructional strategies learned in the academies in their own classrooms and gather student work to explore student thinking and the effectiveness of instruction.