Project Summary

PRIMES is a three-year, federally funded Math Science Partnership (MSP) program of the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (RIDE). The goals of the PRIMES program are to increase the academic achievement of students in mathematics and science by enhancing the content knowledge and instructional skills of classroom teachers. Partnership between high-need school districts and the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty in institutions of higher education are at the core of these improvement efforts. The evaluation study of PRIMES, conducted by The Education Alliance, examines the implementation and impact of the program at each of three selected school districts.

Through a web-based log or journal environment, the Alliance affords ongoing data collection as teachers participate in PRIMES professional development opportunities. The online teacher logs will be analyzed to provide RIDE with case studies indicating the types of PRIMES professional development activities implemented at each district. The evaluation also examines the extent to which teachers are participating in high-quality professional development, thus exploring success cases to provide recommendations for future program planning. The evaluation is also designed to investigate the extent to which professional development opportunities impact instructional strategies in the classroom and student achievement through classroom observation and student test scores.