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K-12 Education: The Basics and Beyond

Student engaged in SMP in-class project
Center for Mathematics and Teachingl

New models for teaching math

A bunch of “former mathematics teachers who love teaching kids, understand the current K-12 scene and are working hard to help,” is how UCLA’s Philip C. Curtis Jr. Center for Mathematics and Teaching describes its staff. Among their activities – hosting 250 K-12 mathematics teachers, educators and mathematicians to discuss strategies that can help students discover “the beautiful, elegant side of mathematics.” <more>

Building Circuit Boards

Filling critical workforce needs

UCLA professors keep an eye toward critical workforce needs by giving students sneak-peeks into hot fields:

  • Teaching teens to build circuit boards? That’s how the Center for Scalable and Integrated Nanomanufacturing introduces students to engineering – a field left off traditional middle and high school science curricula. <more>
  • By “adopting” a South L.A. middle school, the School of Nursing opens doors for students to explore health care careers. <more> (PDF)

Polynesian dance at Santa Monica H.S.

ArtsBridge

Pair trained UCLA students with K-12 teachers in underserved communities for 20-week assignments, and charge them with using theater, dance and architecture to explore subjects as diverse as environmental science, history and math. That’s the premise behind ArtsBridge, an effort to empower and engage students in the classroom through art.

Construction begins at Bruin Community School

University schools

Most Bruins know about Corinne A. Seeds University Elementary School (UES), established in 1882. Now the education experts behind UES are preparing to open more schools across Los Angeles.

  • The Bruin Community School, a K-12 school in Central L.A., is expected to open in 2009 in partnership with LAUSD. <more>
  • A related community school initiative – with campuses across L.A. functioning as extensions of UES – is also in the works. <more>
No Child Left Dehind

“Achievement gap” in education

In addition to a racial “achievement gap,” UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education and Access’s research found a larger disparity – a gap in performance between all California students and those in the rest of the country. Study results suggest a two-pronged strategy to address educational inequity. <more>

They do more than pass out knowledge around here. They create it.

Does No Child Left Behind work?

No Child Left Behind’s ability to raise student achievement levels and close the nation’s racial achievement gap goes under the microscope in a book from UCLA’s Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles. <more>

Senegalese musicians at Teach Africa event

Think global curricula

To prepare students to be competitive in a global economy, UCLA’s International Institute offers K-12 teachers free curricula on international issues, including a Teach Africa training course that breaks down stereotypes. <more>


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