September 29, 2005
Professor Regina Mistretta of St. John’s The School of
Education began her career teaching at elementary, middle and
high school levels. But it was her own learning experiences in math
that eventually impelled her to pursue a career in higher
education. Hoping to make learning math more concrete and
developmental, she is now teaching Methods of Teaching Mathematics
on both the graduate and undergraduate levels, demonstrating
research-based techniques for building students’ conceptual
understanding of mathematics through inquiry-based learning
environments.
Associate Professor Fran Guastello of St. John’s Graduate
Literacy Program spent more than 20 years as teacher, principal and
reading specialist in elementary schools and has used her
experience and skills to evaluate reading and writing scores in the
Diocese of Brooklyn schools and determine the need for staff
development for low-achieving schools.
Their desire to help children learn better, coupled with the
announcement in 2003 that the U.S. Department of Education would be
offering vendor contracts for staff development in non-public
schools under the “No Child Left Behind” Act, led them to create a
program for the professional development of teachers.
Once the contract had been won, they embarked on a three-year
project -- with Professor Guastello teaching the English/Language
Arts component and Professor Mistretta focusing on the Math
component -- to teach new techniques to faculty and administration
at 10 Catholic elementary schools in Brooklyn and Queens.
Approximately 2,800 students of those schools and their parents
also participated. The parents’ participation was considered
especially crucial and a segment of the project was dedicated to
providing them with the knowledge and tools to help their children
learn.
The two faculty members christened their program Project TIE
(“Training Innovative Educators”) and rolled it out to every Pre-K
to Grade 8 teacher in the 10 schools. Teachers attended workshops
and focus groups and were also given the opportunity to observe
lessons modeled by the St. John’s professors. The administrators
also received help with their observation skills.
How
the Vincentian Mission Played a Part in Project TIE
Professor Mistretta reports that, “the most exciting workshops
were those with the parents. They were so grateful to be given the
tools to help their children succeed.” Parents’ positive reactions
were also observed by Professor Guastello: “Parents shared their
concerns about writing and were pleased that the instruction they
received gave them a better knowledge of the expectations for
quality writing.”
At the beginning of the first year, surveys were administered to
the teachers, administrators, students, and parents; subsequent
surveys at the close of each school year were taken to evaluate
their progress in the use of certain methods across that year. A
separate program evaluation was also performed each year by
professors who were not involved in the project.
The most helpful part of the surveys, Professor Mistretta found,
was “the narrative responses in which teachers, administrators, and
parents indicated what changes they did see or wanted to see, what
they wanted more of and what they’d like to see less of.” Professor
Guastello added that survey results from each school population,
“enabled us to tailor our program of instruction for each
school.”
The project came to a close in August and the team is currently
waiting to receive word on a new “No Child Left Behind” proposal
they’ve submitted for an identical three-year program in other
schools. Both The School of Education professors are pursuing
funding for separate studies as well: Professor Guastello would
like to create a Multi-sensory Language Learning Institute to train
teachers to serve children and adults with dyslexia while Professor
Mistretta hopes to create a project that will train teachers on how
to engage parents as partners in their child’s mathematics
education.
Elementary Schools Participating in
Project TIE
Holy Cross School, Maspeth
Our Lady of Sorrows School, Corona
St. Claire School, Rosedale
St. Gabriel School, East Elmhurst
St. Leo School, Corona
Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians, Woodside
St. Michael School, Flushing
St. Raphael School, Long Island City
St. Theresa School, Woodside
St. Therese of Liseux School, East Flatbush