Message from the director
Introduction
The Research and Curriculum Unit, located in Starkville, Miss., as part of Mississippi State University, was formally established in 1965 to foster educational enhancements and innovations. Formerly a division within the College of Education, the RCU became a research center in 1999 under the Office of Research and Economic Development. In keeping with the land-grant mission of Mississippi State University, the RCU is dedicated to improving the quality of life for Mississippians. The RCU enhances intellectual and professional development of Mississippi students and educators while applying knowledge and educational research to the lives of the people of Mississippi. The RCU works within the contexts of curriculum development and revision, research, assessment, professional development and training. For more information about the Research and Curriculum Unit, please visit the RCU’s website at http://www.rcu.msstate.edu/.
Vision
The RCU’s vision is an innovative, equitable and sustainable economy for Mississippi.
Mission
The RCU is dedicated to preparing a resilient and self-sufficient workforce through service, learning and research.
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
It’s been an incredible year filled with transformation and many accomplishments. As I reflect on my first year as director at the RCU, we’ve made many changes. Some are highly visible, like our new website, and others were internal processes and procedures that took place behind the scenes in order to be more efficient and responsive. We have focused on improving communication with instructors, teachers and administrators, during a time when Career and Technical Education programs are changing and more than 800 teachers required training all in one summer. In the assessment center, we’ve implemented regular electronic newsletters and an automated help desk to enhance customer service. We have conducted item alignment and analysis on almost 175 assessments. In the online data portal, administrators and teachers now have instant access to longitudinal MS-CPAS2 data for their programs. Future plans include expanding the layers of data and making them available to teachers and administrators at the touch of a button. The curriculum team completed and designed 37 new programs. Articulation agreements between secondary schools and our community colleges were standardized, providing high school CTE students the opportunity to earn college credit by demonstrating competency and passing the MS-CPAS2 test at 80 percent or higher. Our curriculum team continues to lead as demonstrated when the Future Educators Association recognized our Mississippi Teacher Academy program as a national model. During the last year, the RCU designated our Professional Learning Center as an official “service center” so that we can expand our array of online and in-person professional development offerings to an even larger group of teachers and administrators across the region. Offering a wider array of professional academic services to secondary and postsecondary teachers and educational training programs to industry in the state also helps the RCU diversify its financial portfolio, helping us achieve our goals of broadening funding sources. We are pleased to report that during the last fiscal year, we added contracts with the Mississippi Community College Board, the Institutions of Higher Learning and the Appalachian Regional Commission. Through these collaborations, the RCU is actively engaged in education leadership development through the ARC High Performance Leadership Institute, and helping the MCCB lead initiatives that accelerate opportunities for adults to improve job skills by earning college credit and stackable national credentials and certifications.
What’s Inside? Message from the director......................................................................................................Page 1 Turnaround Leadership Academy...........................................................................................Page 2 Mississippi teachers get “COOL”...........................................................................................Page 6 The Teacher Academy................................................................................................................Page 8 Behind-the-scenes testing.....................................................................................................................Page 10 Awards, recognitions and accomplishments........................................................................Page 12 Presentations..............................................................................................................................Page 13 Publications.................................................................................................................................Page 14 Funding summary for 2010-2011...........................................................................................Page 14
I am proud of the extraordinary effort of the dedicated team of professionals at the RCU, and fortunate to have the chance to conceptualize and work with talented colleagues involved in education throughout the state. We will continue to expand the ways in which we collaborate and partner with others to accomplish our mission.
Best Regards,
Julie Jordan Director, Research and Curriculum Unit Page 1