IU to help Indiana schools

The IU School of Education will use its expertise to improve the caliber of future IU students when it opens the Center for Educational Science Research and P-16 Collaboration this fall, University officials announced this week. \nIU faculty members will work closely with Indiana elementary and secondary schools, building relationships with young students and improving their curriculum and test scores, said Catherine Brown, associate dean in the School of Education and director of the new center. \n"The role of the Center will be to expand on the work our faculty is doing to bring research-based knowledge to bear on improving student achievement from pre-kindergarten through college," said Gerardo Gonzalez, dean of the School of Education, in a press release. \nP-16 Collaboration aims to create a seamless educational system from kindergarten through college, Brown said. The Center will combine knowledge from IU faculty members and schools to try to solve problems in education. \nThe Center will work with schools to improve college preparation by raising achievement levels and improving curriculums so students are better equipped to handle a college work load. It will also track Indiana high school graduates as IU freshmen and report their level of success to schools, which may then make adjustments for better preparation. \nTeachers across the state will benefit by working with IU faculty to improve their methods of instruction. The University will allow Indiana teachers to have access to improved teaching methods and proven curricula so students may benefit. \nThe Center will work with IU's new Institute for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education, also opening in the fall, to assist schools improving in those areas. \nThis goal has already been started at Decatur Middle School. \n"We must do everything we can to support teachers in providing quality instruction in the STEM subjects so that our students are given every opportunity to be successful," Decatur Township Schools Superintendent Don Stinson said in a statement. \nProjects will initially be aimed at those most in need of an educational boost -- schools in Indianapolis, Gary and South Bend that have significant low-income and minority populations. \n"The Center will provide an infrastructure for building relationships between IU and youth-serving agencies and schools in Indiana," Brown said. "Forming relationships with schools and teachers will have an early impact on younger students, making IU an attractive and positive place to learn."\nBrown said the Center is about equality -- giving everybody the opportunity to prepare to come to IU. \n"The Center will work with minority populations whose students have not traditionally been well-served by the educational system," Brown said. \nIU plans to increase its admission standards in 2011, which may cause the diversity of the student population to decrease, Brown said. The Center will aim to increase diversity by improving education for minority populations. \n"In order to have an excellent University we need excellent students," Brown said. "And an excellent student body needs diversity so we can learn from each other." \nUniversity officials said they are optimistic the Center will reap positive benefits for IU and for the state. \n"We hope this effort will result in more Hoosier students leaving high school with the knowledge and skills they need not only to gain admittance to the college of their choice, but to succeed once they are there. We are especially interested in the potential impact this center could have on helping prepare promising minority students for post-secondary education," said IU interim Provost Michael McRobbie in a statement. "IU is always looking for new ways to help Indiana progress"