PRISM activities are built on a foundation of past work in the state that emphasizes a preK-16 approach to education. PRISM seeks to increase science and mathematics achievement by providing challenging science and mathematics curricula for all students; raising public awareness of the need for all students to complete the challenging curricula; increasing and sustaining the number, quality and diversity of P-12 teachers of science and mathematics; and increasing the responsiveness of higher education to the needs of schools. PRISM also features scholarship, which is woven into implementation as partners chronicle what works, for whom, under what conditions, and why it works. Lessons learned in particular contexts will be brought to the level of generalizability and replicated. Ultimately the evidence garnered from joint research/practioner implementation strategies will be used to impact policies to support proven practices.
PRISM strategies are design to give pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, and higher education faculty the tools, knowledge, skills and policy support they need to facilitate change at the school, district, regional, and state level to improve student achievement in science and mathematics. Through P-16 learning communities, school and university faculty will serve as critical friends supporting and challenging each other to seek to understand, to chronicle, and to bridge three largely discrete realms -- knowledge building (the purview of science and mathematics researchers), teacher professional knowledge (taught in colleges of education), and teacher craft knowledge (as used in school classrooms). Through collaboration, faculty will develop professional knowledge that is scientifically-based, that is taught to prospective teachers, and that informs practice in school classrooms.
By including key state entities, PRISM also influences the statewide policy environment in order to reinforce local changes aimed at ensuring implementation of higher standards. While focused on the regional partnerships, it is hoped that innovations deriving from PRISM will impact the entire Georgia P-16 Network (15 regional school/ university partnerships) and, through the MSP Learning Network, the Nation.