Rice enriches K-12 teaching

Rice enriches K-12 teaching
Country’s largest AP institute focuses on teachers

BY JESSICA STARK
Rice News staff

Campus shuttles and sidewalks were chock-full of K-12 teachers when participants of the country’s largest Advanced Placement (AP) summer institute made their home at Rice June 23-July 25. More than 2,400 middle and high school teachers attended this year from some 300 school districts worldwide. Participants came from countries including Colombia, Qatar, South Korea, Mexico, Nicaragua and China.

	COURTESY PHOTO
	More than 2,400 middle and high school teachers were on campus June 23-July 25 for this year’s Rice AP Summer Institute, administered by the Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies.

The Rice University AP Summer Institute prepares middle and high school teachers for the challenges of teaching pre-AP and AP courses by addressing content, structure, pedagogy and assessment. Now in its 14th year, the institute offers more than 100 courses for new and experienced AP and pre-AP teachers, building on Rice’s mission to collaborate with other organizations and improve K-12 education. 

“The AP Institute is just one example of the strong investment that Rice has made in K-12 education outreach,” said Jennifer Gigliotti-Labay, director of the institute. “We are proud to say that school districts across the state and beyond look to Rice for high-quality teacher professional development. Our AP and pre-AP courses provide secondary teachers with the content and skills they need to prepare their students for academic success at both the high school and university level.”

AP Summer Institute
Have an interest in developing your teaching skills at Rice’s next AP Summer Institute? Learn more about the program Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies
Seeking development within your career? Find out what Rice has to offer Administered by the Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies and endorsed by the Southwestern Region of the College Board, the institute has grown steadily over the years and includes courses in English, mathematics, science, foreign languages, social studies, art and music.
 
“Because the Rice program is so large, it fosters continuous growth for teachers,” said Dixie Ross, a lead consultant for Rice’s institute. “New and experienced teachers have the opportunity to gain a depth of content knowledge and best practices.”

As a lead consultant, Ross teaches the AP calculus institute participants. In collaboration with Rice faculty members, all institute courses are led by experienced College Board-endorsed consultants who have a broad range of knowledge and proven ability presenting to their peers.

‘A conduit between teachers and important resources’

Ross has been teaching in the program for more than 10 years and doesn’t look to slow down anytime soon. She said it challenges her to stay up to date on the latest findings within her discipline — mathematics — and K-12 education.

“The institute gives teachers the opportunity to discuss the different strategies that work,” Ross said. “Even seasoned teachers need refreshers and the chance to ask: How do you get content across to an 18-year-old? Students now are much different than when many of us began our careers.”

Ross teaches AP calculus at Pflugerville High School outside of Austin, Texas. She has served as an AP consultant for summer institutes and other teacher professional development workshops across the country and has been a reader for the AP calculus exam. Ross served on the Math Vertical Teams Tool Kit development committee, the Building Success development committee and the AP Advisory Council for the Southwestern Region of the College Board.

“This is one of the best-organized professional development opportunities,” Ross said of Rice’s Summer Institute. “Not just the schedule and the program flow, but the fact that (Associate Provost for K-12 Initiatives) Siva Kumari and Rice stand up for teachers and serve as a conduit between teachers and important resources.”

During Kumari’s tenure as associate dean of the Glasscock School, Rice’s AP Summer Institute grew significantly, more than doubling in size since 2000. Ross predicts the institute will continue to grow as participating teachers talk about the program and what they gained in the classrooms at Rice.

“I get e-mails all the time from teachers who participated in the summer institute, either asking questions about what they learned or telling me success stories of putting those lessons into practice,” Ross said.

‘Teaching is not stagnant’

Also positioning the program for steady growth is its design to adapt to the needs of K-12 teachers and students.

“Rice really does it right,” said Carol Leibl, Rice AP Summer Institute lead consultant. “The program is willing to take risks, respond to new challenges and try different approaches. For instance, they incorporated computers into wet labs so we can show teachers how they can use technology to complement how and what they teach.”

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AP physics teachers take part in one of the more 100 courses offered through Rice’s Summer Institute.

Leibl, a longtime AP biology teacher, has been with the Rice AP Summer Institute since its beginning. She was recently tapped to take a lead role in the National Math Science Initiative, formed to address one of this nation’s greatest economic and intellectual threats — the growing number of students who are ill-prepared to take rigorous college courses in math and science and to succeed in those fields.

Leibl said professional development opportunities, like the institute at Rice, are critical to improving K-12 education.

“Teaching is not stagnant,” Leibl said. “The field is always changing. We are constantly learning and discovering new things. New teaching methods and practices are created.”

“I like that the Rice program really focuses on the teacher,” she said. “If you need something, they will go out of their way to make sure you have it.”

In fact, in response to requests from experienced AP teachers and lead consultants, four years ago Rice began offering advanced topic academies — a course format that provides teachers with the opportunity to delve into more specific course content and connect to their discipline’s current work.

The academies connect K-12 teachers to higher-education faculty members from Rice and elsewhere in in-depth content explorations to expand the teachers’ knowledge base. Rice’s academy course format is the only one of its kind endorsed by the College Board and the International Baccalaureate program.

“The institute equips teachers with what they need to impact their classrooms and engage students in learning,” Leibl said.

‘I’m a better teacher’

Yolanda Soliz, a course facilitator, has seen the value of her AP institute teaching and training in her own classroom at Stafford High School. She was first introduced to Rice’s institute as a participant about 14 years ago.

Since that time she has become highly regarded in the AP community, having started an AP Spanish program at Stafford.

“I wanted to help my students understand that they could deal with the rigor of university life,” Soliz said. “Too many of them were … not thinking about college, and I thought that I had to do something about that. I wanted to help them be successful.”

Soliz is a College Board consultant in Spanish language and literature, a reader for the AP Spanish literature exam and past president of the Texas Foreign Language Association. She has taught at all levels of the program, including the academy level.

“In the Rice institute, I am able to share examples of what I’ve done in my classrooms, (including) some of the things that worked, some of the things that didn’t,” Soliz said. “That sharing is what makes the program so enriching.”

Even after her more than 30 years in education, Soliz said she is still learning and adding to her teaching repertoire. Her dedication and tenacity has earned her a few followers from the AP institute — “groupies” who sign up for all of her classes.

“They tell me that if there is new material or research out there, that I will have it,” Soliz said. “I just try to stay abreast of all the things going on in the field and AP education.”

Through her teaching at Rice’s AP Summer Institute, Soliz does more than that. She also seeks to improve herself and grow.

“The institute enriches my teaching. Because of this, I am a better teacher,” Soliz said.