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College of Education

The Bladensburg Project

The Bladensburg Project, began as a pilot in May 2000 when the university and the public school team initially met to devise new ways to work together in order to help overcome the persistent achievement gap that existed in the county. The pilot program focused on a feeder pattern of high poverty, low performing schools.  The original cluster consisted of Rogers Heights Elementary, William Wirt Middle and Bladensburg High Schools. In 2004, an additional elementary school, Port Towns Elementary, was added as a feeder school to increase the number of students that would participate in the Project.

The College of Education and Prince George’s County Schools have been fortunate in getting initial support for this project from the Laboratory for Student Success.  The L.S.S. is one of the major regional research and development labs funded by the U.S. Department of Education.  The grant awarded by the L.S.S. is one of a number of grants designed to help establish a network of model projects in the mid-Atlantic region and to create a framework in which those projects can interact with each other and share what is learned through their related efforts to support the enhancement of low-performing schools and to improve student learning through collaborative partnerships.

Objectives for the project include the improvement of student achievement in mathematics and literacy through intense professional development for teachers, leadership development for school personnel, and implementation of student focused activities. Some of the activities that have been implemented include: Elementary Math Methods Course; Leadership Retreat at UMD, Conversational Spanish Class for Teachers, and The Alpha Scholars Program: a college awareness program for students.

See page on PGCPS partnership for more information on this programs.