ULM playing host to some 30 area teachers - KNOE 8 News; KNOE-TV; KNOE.com |

MONROE, La., (KNOE 8 News) - The University of Louisiana at Monroe is currently hosting thirty middle school teachers from 18 schools in the Monroe City, Caldwell, Morehouse, Ouachita, Richland and Union Parish school systems.

Thanks to a $120,000 grant secured by ULM faculty, and funded by Louisiana Systemic Initiatives Program (LaSIP), the second phase of the "Outstanding in the Field" initiative is designed to make middle school science teachers "outstanding," by providing opportunities for them, and eventually their students, by having them collect real data at local research sites.

This year's project focus is weather. Teachers spent the week visiting state-of-the-art weather stations at Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge and Restoration Park. They then built replica weather stations to install at their own school sites.

When teachers return to the classroom this fall, their students will collect weekly, and in some cases daily, data to be part of a larger regional database housed at the ULM. 

LaSIP, which started in 1992, is designed primarily to enhance teacher quality and increase student performance through professional development for in-service teachers. A combination of funds from the Board of Regents, Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, and all Title II, Part A, No Child Left Behind funds help finance LaSIP's efforts.