This web site is under construction, as is the maker's understanding of webology. So please be patient. Some links don't yet exist and a number of user features that should be here have not yet been installed. Your understanding is appreciated. Send comments to : madden@math.lsu.edu. Last Revision date: 21 August 1998.

Home Page of the

1998-99 LSU CITAL Project

• RESOURCES. Links to teaching resources authored by project personnel.
• A more complete description of project GOALS.
• A summary EVALUATION PLAN.
• Project PERSONNEL (with links to personal home pages).
• How the FUNDING is being used.
• Report on June 1998 Workshop.
• History of LSU Math Department involvement in K-12 education.
• Visit the Art Gallery at Highland Elementary School.

The concept of partnership is essential to creating stronger links between all levels of education...America's system of higher education has to take a searching look at how it is preparing the 2 million teachers we need in the next ten years. What we are doing now simply isn't good enough. We can't complain that our nation's high schools are sending too many of their graduates directly into college remedial classes and ignore the fact that the process of how we prepare America's teachers is remarkably disjointed....Teaching teachers really has to be the mission of the entire university.

U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley
Fifth Annual State of American Education Speech
Seattle, Washington, February 17, 1998

What is the 1998-99 LSU CITAL Project?
It is a cooperative project involving the East Baton Rouge Parish Schools the LSU College of Education and the LSU Department of Mathematics, the purpose of which is to improve the preparation of K-12 teachers. It is funded by a grant from the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, which is housed at the Louisiana Board of Regents. The title of the original proposal for the project was Pre-service Elementary Teacher Education Program: A Total Community Effort.

What is the purpose of this web site?
This site has two purposes:

• to disseminate information about the LSU CITAL project, and
• to enable project personnel to share their work with one another.

Tell me more about the project purpose.
The cooperating units are trying to fashion an elementary teacher education program that coordinates academic preparation, college of education methodology courses, field experiences and actual classroom teaching. The 1998-99 LSU CITAL project has the following themes:

• K-3 reading and mathematics,
• using technology to achieve positive educational outcomes and
• meeting diverse student needs, especially the needs of students who are at risk of academic failure.

What is the source of funding?
In the summer of 1997, the Louisiana State Legislature designated $1 million of the Higher Education Initiatives Fund to establish a center "for the purpose of improving university-based teacher training programs in Louisiana." This led to the establishment of the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning at the Board of Regents. The Center accomplishes its mission by acting 1) as an agency to fund teacher preparation reforms, 2) as a clearinghouse for research, materials and data and 3) as an evaluator of teacher training programs. The LSU CITAL project is funded by a grant from the Center.

Who is involved?
The project leaders are Robert C. Lafayette, Chair, Department of Curriculum & Instruction and James J. Madden, Professor, Department of Mathematics. The units directly involved are:

• Greenville Elementary School
• Highland Elementary School
• Melrose Elementary School
• LSU Laboratory School
• LSU Department of Mathematics
• LSU College of Education