AUGUSTA – High schools in four areas of the state will partner with career and technical education centers and the state’s universities to boost professional development for teachers in science and mathematics and to improve student achievement in math and science. It is in line with Maine Department of Education’s initiatives on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, known as the STEM initiative.

The department announced awards totaling $400,000 to the four math and science partnerships. The funds were made available through the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The four partnerships are:

. University of Maine at Presque Isle. The Central Aroostook Council on Education will administer the grant program that includes the Caribou and Presque Isle regional technical centers and the high schools in the area that send to them, the University of Maine at Presque Isle School’s schools of science and math and education, and the Caribou-UMPI Partnership for College Success. The partnership plans to create professional learning communities for teachers, provide professional development opportunities that will encourage teachers to incorporate practical applications into their lessons and help technical education faculty introduce math and science concepts into their teaching.

. Acadia Partners for Science and Learning. This partnership includes Nokomis Regional High School, Tri-County Technical Center, Mount View High School, Waldo County Technical Center, Unity College, and the University of Maine Center for Environmental and Watershed Research. The project will bring together teachers, working scientists and college education faculty to enhance the use of problem-centered learning in math and science and help teachers incorporate the skills and traits of scientific inquiry and technological design into the instructional program, and connect working research scientists with classroom teachers.

. Creating a Network of Educators to Communicate about Teaching Math, or CNECT-Math, through the Maine Math and Science Alliance. CNECT-Math partners the United Technologies Center CTE program in Bangor, the Old Town School Department, the University of Maine at Farmington, and the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance. The groups plans to provide professional development in the area of teaching data analysis and statistics, and expand professional learning communities of career-technology, high school and middle school teachers in order to examine how students learn and research on student misconceptions.

. Science Curricula Integrating Technology and Engineering Connections, or SCITEC, also through the Maine Math and Science Alliance. SCITEC will focus on engineering and science, specifically knowledge, skills and interest in science, engineering and technological design for high school students. The project brings together the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance, the National Center for Technology Literacy at the Boston Museum of Science, the University of Maine’s College of Education and Human Resources and College of Engineering, the Capital Area Technical Center in Augusta, and six high schools in its region: Cony, Gardiner Area, Hall-Dale and Maranacook high schools, and Erskine Academy and Monmouth Academy.