PROGRAMS DESIGNATED AS EXEMPLARY AND PROMISING BY THE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION
These programs were recognized at the Association for Gender Equity Leadership in Education’s annual conference, Denver, Colorado, July 2000
Exemplary Program – Career Education
Orientation to Nontraditional Occupations for Women (ONOW) developed by the Ohio Department of Education, Columbus, Ohio. This is an eight-week training program that has been used in Ohio and other states to help socio-economically disadvantaged adult women (often incarcerated or on welfare) explore and successfully enter high-wage careers in nontraditional fields such as construction, manufacturing, high-tech and nontraditional service industries.
Contact: Connie Blair, ve_cblair@ode.state.oh.us, Phone 614-644-5702, ww.ode.state.oh.us/ctae/equity/default.htm
Promising Program – Career Education
Career Choices Curriculum developed by Academic Innovations, Santa Barbara, CA. This is a comprehensive career and life planning guidance program that helps young people, especially young women. It has been used in grades nine and ten in over 1800 schools nationwide and helps students understand the importance of making deliberate career choices and may contribute to decreased dropouts and higher achievement in reading and mathematics.
Contact: Mindy Bingham, mindy@academicinnovations.com, Phone: (805) 969-0055 or (805) 967-8015, www.AcademicInnovations.com
Promising Programs – Mathematics, Science, and Technology
Playtime is Science: An Equity-based Parent/Child Science Program developed by Educational Equity Concepts, Inc., NY, NY. An intensive three-day program implementer training package is supplemented by follow-up training to help individual schools or districts and by materials to be used with the children. It uses inquiry-based activities in the physical sciences. It has increased teacher and parent use of science activities associated with increased positive attitudes among under-served groups, especially girls.
Contact: Merle Froschl/Barbara Sprung, information@edequity.org, Phone 212-725-1803 www.edequity.org
Family Tools and Technology developed by the Center for Family Involvement in Schools, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ. In this program teacher teams participate in five days of training to help them run a seven-session after-school program for girls and boys in grades 4-7, and their parents. The program attempts to enroll 70 percent girls in each group. Girls said they increased their use of tools as well as their attitudes about females using tools. Their parents and teachers became more positive about girls endeavors in mathematics, science and technology.
Contact: Arlene Chasek, Aschasek@aol.com , Phone 732-445-2071, www.rci.rutgers.edu/~cfis
National Science Partnership for Girl Scouts and Science Museums developed by The Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia, PA and the Girl Scouts of the USA, NY, NY. This program provides two-hour leader training for each of seven student activity kits. Each kit contains 12-25 hands-on science activities for girls, ages 6-11. It has been effective in increasing interest in science among both the girls and their scout leaders. It also provides a model for partnerships between museums and other youth-serving organizations.
Contacts: Dale McCreedy, McCreedy@fi.edu, Phone 215-448-1092; Carolyn Kennedy, Ckennedy@girlscouts.org, Phone 212-852-8130 www.fi.edu/tfi/programs/nsp.html; www.girlscouts.org
EQUALS developed by the Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley. The EQUALS mathematics program is thirty hours of in-service workshops focusing on hands-on problem solving, equity awareness, cooperative team work for teachers, parents, and community leaders who work with K-12 students. Teachers reported that EQUALS helped them address the needs of their female and language minority students and noted improvements in students attitudes and scores in some aspects of mathematics.
Contact: Jose Franco, equals@uclink.berkeley.edu, Phone 510-642-0230 www.lhs.berkeley.edu/equals
ASPIRE: Alabama Supercomputing Program to Inspire Computational Research in Education was developed by the computer science department at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. ASPIRE provides two-week and one week professional development programs for high school and middle school teachers to help them instruct students in solving real world problems using a computational science approach to problem-solving. Students learn mathematical modeling, simulation, and scientific visualization and develop writing and presentation skills by participating in an annual statewide EXPO. Although females are usually under-represented in such courses, ASPIRE teachers saw gender equitable student success in their year-long classes as measured by student enrollment, attitudes, project performance and gains on content tests. For example girls won about 50 percent of the prizes in the various contests based on course projects.
Contact: Gypsy Abbott, gabbott@uab.edu Phone 205-934-8330, http://aspire.cs.uah.edu
Promising Programs – Prevention of Sexual and Racial Harassment and Violence
Campus Peer Training Project developed by the National Coalition Building Institute, Washington, DC. This three-day college campus “train the trainer” institute works with 30-70 students, faculty, administrators and support staff to lead prejudice reduction workshops to respond to racism, sexism and other inter-group conflict. Workshop participants gain skills and awareness and increase their commitment to actively oppose prejudiced and stereotypical behavior.
Contact: Cherie Brown, ncbiinc@aol.com Phone 202-785-9400 www.ncbi.org
The Program on Intergroup Relations, Conflict and Community (IGRCC) developed by the Program on Intergroup Relations, Conflict and Community, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. In this program, formal academic courses and personal experience provide the basis for structured conversations/intergroup dialogues across racial, ethnic, and other social group boundaries such as gender. The program has been used with undergraduate and graduate students from the University of Michigan and adapted by other universities. Students learned conflict management.
Contact: Charles Behling & Teresa Brett, IGRCC@umich.edu Phone 734-936-1875 www.umich.edu/~igre
Promising Programs – Teacher Education
Succeeding at Fairness: Effective Teaching for All Students developed by Myra and David Sadker, School of Education, American University, Washington, DC. This flexible three-day tiered teacher in-service training program increases the effectiveness and equity of classroom teaching. It does so by helping participants understand gender-related research and increase their own gender equitable classroom interactions. Many participants also become empowered through their own experiences in peer coaching and replicating this training program.
Contact: David Sadker, Dsadker@aol.com, Phone 202-885-3728 www.american.edu/academic.depts/cas/soe/facfram.htm , or www.sadker.org
A Womans Place Is in the Curriculum developed by the National Womens History Project, Windsor, CA. This five-day teacher training conference on womens history is for K-12 educators to help them incorporate multicultural womens history into all subjects from elementary school to college. The participants who come from across the nation as well as other countries bring the multicultural roles of women in US history into their schools by using existing resources and developing their own activities and courses.
Contact: Molly MacGregor, NWHP@aol.com, Phone 707-838-6000 www.nwhp.org
