Recently, teachers from Appalachia participating in the National Science Foundation’s Appalachian Collaborative Center for Learning, Assessment and Instruction in Mathematics, or ACCLAIM, came to UT for a five-week class in geometry, mathematics education, rural sociology or research methodologies. ACCLAIM gives middle school and high school teachers, as well as college professors from the Appalachian area, the chance to earn a doctorate degree through summer sessions and distance learning, said Vena Long, UT math education professor and ACCLAIM co-director
“For every participant, there are approximately three jobs,” Long said. “Because of the high demand, the National Science Foundation donated $10 million to make it possible for the people in the Appalachian region to get a job or keep the job they already have.”
During the three-year program, all of the participants will be given a Web cam and do collaborative projects online. Long said this program is extremely popular because it enables participants to concentrate on their studies rather than worrying if they will have to move or quit their jobs.
“I had looked into several different programs, but to make it fit my schedule, I had to quit my job or move,” said Barbara Buckner, a teacher at Bradley County High School and Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn. “It was never financially attainable until now.”
Buckner said she has not only grown as a person but as a teacher as well.
“This first summer session already has challenged me to be a better teacher,” she said. “Being here with other student-teachers who have the same goals and ambitions makes you strive to be better.”
ACCLAIM enables participants to earn degrees without a drastic lifestyle change said Brian Boyd, a high school teacher from Dayton, Ohio.
“I had looked at the possibility of earning my doctorate in math education, but I am married with a 4-year-old son, and quitting my job, moving and changing my lifestyle at this stage in my life was not a desirable prospect,” he said. “After talking with several people, I decided ACCLAIM is the most feasible way for me to achieve a doctoral degree.”
The ACCLAIM project is a partnership of UT, the universities of Kentucky and Louisville, Ohio and Marshall universities and the Appalachian Rural Systemic Initiative.
