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Shawnee State has been actively working on a rural school improvement pilot with Ohio University and recently participated in a teleconference workshop with Green Township schools locally and Trimble schools at OU. Those participating are, front row, left to right, Olivia Mullins student teacher, Leigh Ann Henry 7-8 grade math teacher at Green, Zach Nelson student teacher and Gary Johnson, intervention specialist at Green. Back row, left to right, are Kejing Liu, Ed.D., chair of the Department of Teacher Education at SSU, Jodi Dunham, Ed.D., math coach and Valley Local High School math teacher, Jess McIlhenny, Green High School math teacher, J.D. Emnett, Green High School principal, Tate Skinner Green High School math teacher, Donna Malone 5-6 grade math teacher at Green, Meghan Allen, student teacher, and Jennifer McKinney, Ed.D., SSU senior math instructor.

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Math professors from Ohio University and Shawnee State University participated in a teleconference workshop for the Rural School Improvement Initiative with Trimble and Green schools on Friday, Feb.8.

The initiative first began from the Ohio Department of Education. Trimble and Green were on the list of underdeveloped rural schools in math and science education grades 7-12.

Shawnee State is one of five members of the Southeast Ohio Teacher Development Collaborative that has been actively working on a rural school improvement pilot with Ohio University. Shawnee State has been working with Green Township and Ohio University has been working with Trimble schools

“The feedback from our rural public school partners, Trimble and Green Locals, is overwhelmingly positive,” said Kejing Liu, Ed.D., Chair of the Department of Teacher Education at SSU. “Our model demonstrates how local institutions of higher education, both public and private, can collaborate to provide high quality professional development to rural school districts.”

The first phase of the pilot was led by Ohio University with Shawnee and Green as a second participating group. The second session will be led by Shawnee State University. Plans are already underway for the second professional development workshop. It will be held in April or early May.

“We have identified Math grades 5-8 as being our biggest area of need,” said J.D. Emnett, principal at Green High School. “That decision was based upon our students’ scores on their Math Ohio Achievement Assessment (OAA) in grades 5-8. The initiative has helped us begin the process of implementing more rigor and relevance in our math classrooms. We look forward to the opportunity to continue our work with SSU and Ohio University.”