Southern Initiative Algebra Project

the Southern Initiative of the Algebra Project, Inc. (siap) implemented the siap pk-16 model for education at some level at 4 sites in the united states during 2023. the model involves four components: (1) professional development for educators, modeling the expectations for conversations and deep thinking in mathematics instruction for educators and their students; (2) the design team process, pulling together across the community at large the necessary human and other resources to support teachers and their students toward all students being college- or career-ready upon graduation from high school; (3) partnerships with institutes of higher learning, particularly historically black colleges and universities, serving as anchors for educational support and sustainability for teachers and students; and (4) youth leadership development, teaching high school and university students to serve as tutors and mentors for pk-12 students in teachers' classrooms and in after-school, weekend, and summer programs. the 4 program sites for 2023 follow:new orleans la project-siap provided professional development for math educators at two schools (benjamin franklin elementary mathematics and science school and the new orleans charter science and mathematics high school). Classroom visitations and saturday workshops were held in spring 2023. A summer institute was held for two schools in june. School leadership assistance was also provided throughout the year for the administrators of two schools. Design team meetings were held approximately every two weeks, bringing together representatives from siap, the schools, and dillard and xavier universities.

Jackson ms project--siap moved through the design team process with jackson public schools (jpsd), jackson state university (jsu), and the community at large--focusing on the lanier feeder pattern. Siap continued intensive work with these entities to rally support for schools in the lanier feeder pattern to implement the siap pk-16 model for education. Implementation is scheduled to begin in summer 2024.

Washington, dc project-siap provided professional development for math faculty at udc/udccc in april, june, and september. Siap conducted a saturday workshop in april, preceded by classroom observations. This was followed by another saturday workshop in june, as well as a summer institute that spanned 8 days-also in june. Four additional saturday workshops were provided in september. Throughout this time, siap assisted in the development process regarding the mtti (mathematic teacher training institute).petersburg, va project-siap worked with the principal investigator (Virginia state university) for 2 prior grants (that were the source of funds for activities at multiple collaborating sites in the past) to develop and/or fund four locations (two in Virginia, one in new orleans la, and one in jackson ms) beginning in september. Year 1 was scheduled as a planning year around centers development, for the most part, with professional development work to begin in summer 2024. the funds siap received from vsu were designated and will continue to be designated for use in the jackson ms Project.