(left to right) Dr. Kathleen Browne, Susanne Svizeny and President Rozanski

The grant will help support the sustained professional development programming for K-12 science and mathematics teachers whose districts and schools participate in the Consortium for New Explorations in Coherent Teacher Education (CONNECT-ED).

“We are delighted that Wachovia Foundation is partnering with Rider and the other consortium members,” said Rider President Mordechai Rozanski.  “This program is a powerful model for life-long learning for teachers.  In the sciences, where the body of knowledge grows so rapidly, continuous learning is an imperative. By working together, we can provide science and math teachers the opportunity to learn the newest content in their fields and to see the inquiry approach to teaching and learning modeled by expert teachers.”

In making the grant announcement, Susanne Svizeny, Wachovia’s Regional President for Southern New Jersey, commented, “We value our longstanding relationship with Rider University, and welcome the opportunity to be a partner with its CONNECT-ED consortium in making a positive impact in the region regarding how teachers are prepared to help students learn science and math. This grant is consistent with our corporate commitment to education which focuses on providing support for teachers and teaching. We are pleased to support a program that creates a sustained system of professional development for science and math teachers through strong partnerships that provide all the necessary resources.”

A major component of Rider’s Science Education and Literacy Center, CONNECT-ED is a Central New Jersey-based partnership of 13 public school districts totaling almost 100 schools, two independent schools, two universities, one community college, one corporation and other community partners.

Partners include Trenton, Burlington City, East Windsor Regional, Ewing Township, Hillsborough Township, Hopewell Valley Regional, Lawrence Township, Montgomery Township, Princeton Regional, South Brunswick Township, Warren Township, Washington Township, and West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional school districts, The Pennington School and Newgrange School, Rider and Princeton universities, Raritan Valley Community College, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Mercer County Education Technology Training Center, and the Invention Factory’s Science-To-Go program.

The Wachovia grant will allow the CONNECT-ED program over the next three years to train and support a total of 30 district based teams of K-12 teachers, district administrators, and university or industry scientists, mathematicians and engineers who will work together to design 30 “Big Idea Modules” (BIMs), each based on a “big idea” in mathematics or science and each modeling the inquiry approach to teaching.

These modules will be configured into two-week summer institutes for about 60 teachers, and about ten mini institutes each school year.  An annual conference in the fall will convene CONNECT-ED consortium members and other education leaders throughout the region to showcase the program’s work and offer additional professional enrichment in science, mathematics and inquiry-based teaching.

In addition to the Wachovia grant, the Martinson Family Foundation contributed $260,390 in April 2004, the 3M Foundation provided a $25,000 education grant for Rider, and the New Jersey Department of Education’s P12/ Higher Education-Public School Partnership Grant of $85,000 also supported CONNECT-ED this year. The Bristol-Myers Squibb Company also provides on-going support to the program.